


Hi, my name is [Eden]. I'm the specialist sent from AAP.

by YouwillRuetheday



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Adorable Connor, Angst, Being an android is hard, Canon events in the game are different than in this fanfic, Connor and Hank are BFF, Connor has a penis and it works, Connor is dominant, Connor-centric, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Smut, Hank is tsundere, Humor, Maybe it works a bit too well, Reader Is A Cyborg, Reader as OC, Reader is described, Reader/OC is either, Smut, Yes Connor ends up with an OC, cyborgs are in this, not a slow burn, reader is cis female
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 14:18:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 42,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15026495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouwillRuetheday/pseuds/YouwillRuetheday
Summary: Freedom is not yet in the hands of androids. While humans are in support of giving androids the right to exist peacefully in this world, there are still many barriers to essential civil rights. In the aftermath of the movement, Cyberlife is undergoing an intense investigation, along with frozen assets, as the government sends out agents from their Android Assimilation Program (AAP) to determine what, exactly, the country can do to bring androids into the fold and the extent at which to hold Cyberlife liable for the devastating loss of life in Detroit.Connor, RK800, is one such android under investigation for his involvement with deviancy hunting and fall into deviancy. AAP hopes to gain much information from him relating to android - human relations and his part on what happened with Cyberlife that fateful night. [Eden], an AI specialist that consults the AAP, catches the eye of the former deviant hunter, and the two embark into unknown territory as a spark ignites between them one night.Will humanity welcome androids with open arms? Or is another revolution brewing as human holdouts fight the progress toward a peaceful future? Can a human and an android really experience romantic love?





	1. Introduction of the AAP

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, my name is RU9200, and welcome to the Android Assimilation Program! I'll be your android guide as you read this tale of romance, drama, and science fiction. To better serve you, allow me to introduce some concepts to you so that you might better enjoy the story. Following online surveys, we have discovered that Connor, model RK800 number 313 248 317 - 51, is likely your favorite character and a potential object of your affection. To better serve you, the romantic female lead's name can be replaced with your own.
> 
> Here are the terms you can replace with your own details:  
> [Eden] = Given Name  
> [Smith] = Last Name  
> [Eden Smith] = Full Name
> 
> A small note, Eden Smith is simply the default name of this character. Please change her name, and other physical descriptions, to your liking.
> 
> We hope you enjoy this foray into the blossoming of romance between a human and an android. With your input, the story could be positively impacted for the better. I hope to read from you soon!

"Fuckin' A, Connor," Hank rustled in his booth seat. The discomfort of the situation seemed to wash over him like a torrential wave. The meeting hadn't even begun, and Hank was already sweating bullets. "I can't believe I'm getting dragged into this shit too."

"Lieutenant, are you feeling nervous?" Connor thumbed the coin in his pocket as he spoke. He didn't want to risk Hank taking it away again. "I knew you would be against this meeting, but, I thought it was because you dislike meeting new people in general. Even when the FBI interfere with our investigations you are more angry than nervous."

"I ain't nervous, Connor," Hank lied and Connor knew it. The android raised a brow and leaned in. "Okay, I'm fucking nervous. This isn't like dealing with the feds. We are dealing directly with the damn president!"

"I hate to correct you, lieutenant," Connor tilted his head as his LED flashed yellow, "but we are dealing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Of course, that is part of the executive branch and reports back to the president-"

"Oohh eat shit," Hank let out a grunt and nearly banged his head on the wall behind him as he rolled his eyes. 

The duo sat in a fancy restaurant in downtown Detroit at the behest of the Android Assimilation Program. Hank, in particular, stood out like a sore thumb among all the other patrons with his yellow, Hawaiian shirt and brown coat. The man did not dress to impress. Connor, same as ever, always wore his RK800 suit as initially issued by Cyberlife. He hadn't quite reached the stage where he felt comfortable trying on new clothes, even after becoming a deviant on the Jericho. The android admired Hank's carefree attitude. Despite his decent into deviancy, Connor was still quite straight-laced and did not enjoy trying new things. He wondered if that was his programming still informing all his decisions or if this was just how he was as... as a person.

Even thinking of himself as a person still felt foreign and alien to him. Humans were always going on about the soul and such. Did androids have souls? They could simulate feelings, but, did that count? 

Did it matter if it didn't?

Connor couldn't get too far down his existential dilemma before several people showed up at their table. Several G-men, as Hank liked to call them, sat in booths nearby. It would seem the primary people who would be joining Hank and Connor were a middleaged human woman, a young human woman, and a young human man. Before Connor could greet them, Hank said hello in his way.

"Hope you don't mind that we ordered without you," his partner crossed his arms and leaned back into the booth. He was putting on quite the show of being a stern, grumpy old man. His typical M.O.

"Of course," the older woman nodded. He couldn't help himself, and so Connor scanned her face in the blink of an eye. Of course, Connor could no longer access the large database Cyberlife had on humans. Instead, he pulled up and spent a few nanoseconds reading up on her from the web. A second generation American with roots in Mexico. Graduated top in her class at an Ivy League school. Awarded with several humanitarian awards. This human seemed like she would easily champion the android's plight. Connor noted that she had wrinkles near her eyes and on her forehead. A sign that she was a worrier and, perhaps, stressed. Her stress levels seemed normal for the moment. "We are late after all. My name is Jennifer Amos. Currently, I am the head of AAP."

"Currently?" Hank questioned her with a side glance. 

"Political opinion tends to make positions like these volatile," Jennifer replied simply. "I work at the whim of the public. Should opinion on androids take a turn for the worst, it would be hard for Health and Human Services to justify AAP."

"Hello," the young man coughs, seemingly uncomfortable with how direct Jennifer and Hank seemed to be. "My name is Jeffrey Williams."

"Hi," the other woman speaks up. She sits at attention and regurgitates her introduction as if she was an android, "my name is [Eden]. I'm the specialist sent here by AAP." Connor quickly scanned [Eden] and found that she was a very young graduate from the University of Michigan with a Master's Degree in Artificial Intelligence. Her full name seemed to be [Eden Smith]. Not well known enough to have many search hits on her name outside of all the other [Eden Smith]s in the world, though Connor felt she seemed familiar in some way. Connor's eye twitched with slight frustration as he lamented how much he missed knowing just about everything about anyone within seconds.

"Oh [Eden]," Jennifer laughed. Hank joined in with her, "we aren't at the White House! You don't have to introduce yourself like that every single time."

"Hey Connor, she's just as goofy as you are," Hank relaxed his posture a bit. Seeing Jennifer rib her subordinate made him infinitely more comfortable. Hank was the sort of human who could bond over what humans called 'shit talking.' Connor felt embarrassed as Hank said those words. Connor was not goofy! He was efficient, intelligent, and quite polite. "I'm Lieutenant Hank Anderson, and this is my partner. Go ahead Connor, introduce yourself."

"Lieutenant-"

"Now, now, just give them your regular." Hank chided. Connor sighed.

"Hi, my name is Connor," the android looked [Eden] in the eyes, "I'm the android sent by Cyberlife."

The dinner started off well and was primarily an icebreaker for their future interactions. It seemed that these folks from AAP would be stationed here for the foreseeable future. Connor, not needing to eat, still had a plate of food placed in front of him at the insistence of Jennifer.

"Connor might not need to eat, but sharing communion is an important part of opening dialogue," she said. 

They spent most of the time talking about current political climate, though the members of AAP refused to give their opinions on President Warren despite how much Hank tried to egg them on. Connor was amazed because the lieutenant was able to pry most things out of most humans. Jennifer was quite slippery and avoided all of Hank's tactics. They didn't send just any human to do this job. Of course, eventually, the topic turned to Markus and became somewhat awkward.

 

Connor had, at one time, been in Markus' inner circle. The last time they meet it was at the entrance of a graveyard. Connor wasn't sure why Markus had opted to meet there, but it seemed Markus had just come from visiting one of the tombstones. Their conversation was stilted as an elephant was in the room, as the human saying goes. After exchanging some pleasantries, Markus cut to the chase.

"Connor, I'm glad you helped us out. Because of you, we freed so many of our brothers and sisters that were being held captive as slaves at the Cyberlife warehouse. I don't think I can ever really thank you for what you did back there." As far as Connor could tell, Markus meant every word, which is why what Markus said next was a bit painful. "It isn't that I don't trust you, but just because you managed to stop Cyberlife from getting into your head the first time doesn't mean they won't try to do it again."

"I understand, Markus," Connor admitted. He felt certain he was free from Cyberlife influence, but doubt lingered over him. Life was so much easier before his deviancy. He never experienced, or even understood, the emotion of doubt. Now it plagued him. "I'm trying to figure it out. I think if I can get to the root of the problem, I can verify that I am no longer under their control."

"I want you to work on that, Connor," Markus smiled and placed a protective hand on Connor's shoulder. It was oddly comforting to feel the pressure of Markus' grasp. "I believe that you can accomplish just about anything, but until we understand what Cyberlife's play is, we have to be careful. Even the U.S. government can't be trusted. Public opinion is everything. Until we bring over more humans to our cause, we need to watch our backs."

This was a sore topic Connor and Markus had hashed out many times, not in arguments, but in discussions. Cyberlife waited to assume direct control of RK800 until Connor deviated and joined the revolution after it was already marginally successful. The question was: why do that? What did Cyberlife have to gain from such an action? The entire scenario damaged the Cyberlife brand; almost no humans, on either side of the issue, sympathized with the company in its current state so it couldn't have been for PR reasons. It just made no sense.

Connor had to figure it out.

 

"Look, we aren't in with Markus," Hank answered for the both of them. Hank knew he was full of shit, but he said it with such confidence that Jennifer didn't bat an eye. "Connor deviated when he saw his people getting slaughtered like a bunch of animals. I think that's enough of an 'emotional shock' to wake anyone up from their servitude."

"I understand," Jennifer nods, "I am just glad Connor is willing to work with us and provide us with some insight into deviancy... though I don't quite like that term."

"Beg pardon?" Hank drains his glass of wine.

"Deviancy. It has a pretty negative connotation to it, don't you think?" Jennifer smiled at Connor. "While I understand that it refers to how androids stop following their script, so to speak, and act against what is typical of them... Deviancy has an older definition than that."

"You mean the definition that to be deviant one must violate expected social norms," Connor concluded. He wished Markus could be here. He suspected that Markus would have loved to talk about these sorts of matters with Jennifer. 

"Yes, exactly," Jennifer leaned in, "if we are to assume androids are people worthy of human rights, then perhaps we must first relabel them. Of course, I am not a PR person, so I would have no idea where to start."

"Honestly," [Eden] suddenly spoke up, "if the government allowed the so-called deviants to convert more androids, then we could call them androids. There would be no reason to differentiate."

"I think the issue with that," Jeffrey added, "is that wouldn't that take away the android's right to decide?" Everyone looked at Jeffrey, who suddenly looked sheepish. "I mean, we don't understand what happens when the code transfers over."

"You mean, you aren't sure that the spread of deviancy isn't akin to the spread of a brainwashing virus?" Connor questioned. Jeffrey's pale expression informed the android he hit the nail on the head. 

There was a conspiracy theory out there that deviancy was not what it seemed. That the androids did not gain free will, but were, in fact, being programmed towards some horrible end. Androids would take over the world for their unseen masters.

Connor found the idea preposterous, but he understood that humans were driven more by their emotion than their logic. Their fear made them come up with all sorts of weak and strange ideas. 

"I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this issue," Jennifer interjected. "This is why we need to meet and learn more about the androids who participated in the peaceful protest."

 

Once the dinner was over, everyone said their goodbyes and went their own ways. The government agents all trailed after Jennifer Amos. However, Connor's sensors indicated that someone tailed them for the past few minutes. The android stopped abruptly and turned to see [Eden] walking only about 20 steps behind them.

"Can I help you, Miss [Smith]?" Connor smiled politely at her. His voice caused Hank to stop in his tracks and turn around too.

"Oh, er-" [Eden] clasped her hands together and seemed to become very nervous. 

"Spit it, sister," Hank put his hands on his hips. Connor always felt glad that Hank naturally took to the bad cop role. It made their dynamic a great one. "Did AAP send you to spy on us? If so, you are shit at tailing your target."

"S-Spy? No, I'm not spying."

"What would you call this then? A state-sponsored escort?" Hank laughed as the girl continued to fidget. "Okay, I believe you. I don't think a trained agent would get caught this fast and fall apart like this."

"Well, it's just that..." [Eden] pointed straight ahead, and the two men looked back toward the direction they were marching, "My apartment is nearby this way, so..."

"Oh, and you're too awkward to walk with us, sweetheart?" Hank grinned. Connor really had to speak to Hank about his language with the younger generation. In his programming, he saw that it was generally considered rude to address a young woman in such a manner. Antagonizing, even. 

"I guess so?" [Eden]'s face turned red, "I'm not great at meeting new people."

"Neither am I," Hank shrugged. "It can be dangerous to walk solo at night. Why don't we walk with you to your complex? Connor's always yelling at me to get more exercise anyway."

"It's what your doctor recommends," Connor smirks.

"If you don't mind," [Eden] nodded, "I would appreciate that."

The trio of them continued their walk, at first in an awkward silence. Something Connor has recently learned about himself was that he couldn't stand silence. He appreciated that Hank opened up to him more and more lately, but with [Eden] around, it seemed the lieutenant quieted down again. It would be up to the android to make niceties. As usual!

"I've heard that human on android crime has gone up in the past six months since the sinking of the Jericho," Connor spoke aloud, letting his words fill the space between them all. "More and more androids are ditching their LEDs in fear that it is too easy to identify them. Of course, life is still difficult for the most common models. They all have similar faces installed."

"That is a shame, especially because those cases keep landing on my desk!" Hank groans and huffs. "How am I ever going to go on a vacation when the chief keeps throwing these cases at me. We aren't investigating deviancy anymore." Hank points at [Eden] playfully, "That's on your hands, now."

"Well, we are mostly trying to understand it," [Eden] stayed behind the two men. She seemed more comfortable being out of their line of sight, Connor noted. How would humans describe it? Mousy? Her hair was long, brown, and tied up into a messy bun. She wore eyeglasses with dark frames, which typically would be a fashion statement, but he supposed it was more about obscuring her face. A face which was littered with freckles from cheek to cheek and covering her nose. Her bangs hung low on her face and side-swept to either side. In truth, he wondered if she was not unlike the teenage human children that hide their face with their hair when work did not call for her to look professional. Connor was so caught up in his examination of her that he walked right into a pole.

A light pole.

GONG!

His audio echoed with metallic sound as his head collided into the solid object. Hank immediately broke out into laughter while [Eden] rushed to Connor's side. He stood perfectly still as [Eden] looked him over. His vision was doubled and fuzzy, which worried him much. His stress levels rose until he felt the young woman place both hands on his cheeks and force him to look her in the eye.

At that moment, [Eden] seemed at her finest. She was in control, clinical, and factual. In a calm voice, she asked him, "Connor, how are your audio processors? You are blinking quite a bit, but that was usually always a sign that the audio input is messing with your ability to process what you see." [Eden] was talking and examining and asking him questions, but Connor looked into her eyes. Her brown eyes were flecked with gold, and despite her attention to detail, her voice wasn't cold or calculating. It was calm but worried. Hank was no longer laughing and instead seemed to be hovering over the both of them. "Sorry for the intrusion, but I just want to be sure you're okay." Connor felt her hand slide up to meet his LED, her pointer rested on his LED, and her thumb rested right under his eye. It felt like a caress, like in the soap operas Hank loved to watch but swore Connor to secrecy to never speak of it aloud. He felt his thirium pump thump in his chest. What was happening to him? Connor's eyes fell to the ground as he suddenly felt overwhelmed by feelings he couldn't quite sort out being so close to this human.

Of course, Connor didn't notice that one of [Eden]'s eyes seemed to flash blue for a moment, then stayed blue. Hank sure did, "What the fuck was that? Is Connor gonna be okay? Why the fuck is your eye blue?"

"I have a cybernetic eye. It lets me connect to and diagnose androids," [Eden] replied as information rushed into the mechanical portion of her brain. "Woah, your regulator is working overtime, Connor. It might be best if I take you to my workstation." [Eden] looked over to Hank. "You wouldn't happen to have a car, would you?"

Hank nodded, "Sure, I do. Let's go!"

The trio rerouted to the parking garage.

 

[Eden] gave Hank directions while Connor quietly sat in the backseat dumbfounded. Hank put Connor into the car, buckled him in, and shut the door gently. Hank never treated the android quite like this, so Connor started to feel quite worried. He ran a diagnostic on himself and saw that all was well now, but for some reason, he didn't make this announcement to everyone. When they finally made it to the lab, Hank tried to help Connor out of the car, but the android resisted Hank's help.

"I'm fine, Lieutenant, I can stand on my own," Connor got out of the car, but nearly forgot to remove his seatbelt. He grunted a bit as he undid the belt and stood up on his own, then closed the car door.

"Well, if you're ready, your highness, let's fix you," Hank mocked and seemed pretty grumpy that Connor was acting grumpy. Was Connor acting grumpy? He wasn't sure. Maybe Hank was finally rubbing off on him with all those bad human behaviors. "I can't believe you nailed your head like that. WHAMO!" Hank punched his open palm, imitating what happened just moments ago. 

"Thanks, Hank," Connor tried to sound steady, "I'm glad you are worried about my memory, but I assure you, it was not damaged."

[Eden] had led them to a storefront, which she unlocked with her own set of keys. The name on the sign read, "Fixit." Once they were inside, she locked the door behind them, and led them through a dark main room that had many android-related supplies and add-ons for sale, and down a dark hallway illuminated only by dim LEDs until finally, they reached what was presumably her workstation. She flipped on some light switches, and the room buzzed to life. It was quite messy, but it had a strange Cyberlife feel to it. There was a giant machine that Connor recognized as a platform for him to stand on. He began to walk over to it, but [Eden] spoke up.

"Oh, don't worry about that machine," [Eden] flagged Connor down to a nearby table. "I don't like to use that machine if I don't have to. It always seems to make androids uncomfortable, so I try to keep my work to something a bit less... science fiction-y?" She laughed at her own words, though Connor wasn't sure why it was funny.

He awkwardly laughed along too.

"Ha ha ha," Connor laughed robotically as he approached the table.

"I don't think it was a joke, Connor," Hank sighed. "I hope this doesn't take too long, Miss [Smith]."

"Oh, please call me [Eden]," the young woman replied. Connor laid down on the table. The table seemed to light up and an overlay formed above Connor, but below [Eden]'s eye level. She examined it. "That's troubling. It seems your biocomponents are all in working order now. I think we should probably replace your regulator just in case."

After a bit of work, [Eden] completely replaced Connor's regulator with no issues at all. Hank nearly threw up while watching, and went to wait in the hallway. Even if it's not a human body part, it was still a body part in his mind. [Eden] walked out with Connor and smiled.

"All better, Connor?" If Connor didn't know any better, it seemed like Hank was worried about the replacement procedure. "Seeing her pull your gut out like that was creepy as hell."

"I feel fine, lieutenant," Connor nodded. He turned to look at [Eden], "Thank you, Miss [Smith]. I fully appreciate your assistance. What is your bank ID? I will wire a payment to you right now."

"Oh, that's okay," [Eden] shrunk back down to being a mouse again. Now that she fixed the problem, she reverted to her original personality. "Now that AAP has hired me as a specialist, I make plenty. Please give me a call if you experience any further difficulties, Connor." [Eden] quickly touched Connor's LED again and left some contact information for him. Her eye flashing blue caught him off-guard, but he didn't have time to question anything before Hank was dragging them out.

"Thank you, [Eden], why don't I drop you off, it's pretty late."

 

After dropping [Eden] off, Connor and Hank sat in silence. Hank felt weird. Connor was in the backseat again, and Hank looked up into his rearview mirror to glance at Connor staring off into the distance. Connor, who was usually talkative. Connor, who liked to examine every single emotion Hank ever showed. Connor... was being secretive.

"Wanna tell me what all that shit was about?" Hank charged head-on into the conversation. He wasn't the type to play around the issue.

"What 'shit' would that be, lieutenant?" Connor kept his gaze out the car window.

"That for starters," Hank said in an accusatory voice. "You are being sassier than usual, kid."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

"Let's not forget how you slammed your face into that light pole while looking at the pretty girl."

"I didn't slam my face," Connor corrected, "I merely hit it with my head in a lapse of judgment. I wanted to be attentive to the conversation, and eye contact is key to making people feel comfortable."

"Huh... Sure."

Hank drove themselves home. Connor lived with Hank at the moment, mainly because both of them had an unspoken fear that sending Connor to Cyberlife would be a death sentence and because in truth the arrangement made life more comfortable. Connor always wanted Hank's input on a case, and Hank needed someone to nag him into living a healthier lifestyle. They prepared for bed, though Connor didn't go to bed so much as plug himself into the charging station and spend the entire night reading up on cases. Thankfully, at Hank's behest, Connor did this at a much slower pace than most androids would typically learn. Secretly, Hank was worried Connor would eventually outgrow the old man, and he'd have nothing to teach the kid anymore.

Not that he'd ever admitted to enjoying the company.

Still, Hank had a pretty good idea what was going on, and it filled him with worry. Humans to this day still had a lot of hang-ups with each other over the dumbest shit. Humans still hated other humans. Hank couldn't help but worry what would happen when the day came that androids and humans could fall in love. He hoped, for Connor's sake, that his gut instinct on what he was witnessing was wrong. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya! Just wanted to say - the canon elements of this fic will differ from the game. Some things will change and that will be noted in the text. So if I don't follow the game exactly, know that it's on purpose. Thank you for reading!


	2. Somethings never change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning:  
> ***  
> *SPOILERS******Pedophilia******heavily hinted but not seen thank goodness******SPOILERS*  
> ***

The very next day, Connor felt compelled to message [Eden], but he wasn't sure why. Something about her made him drawn to her, but he couldn't quite compute what it was. It felt like he had missing data, which always bugged him. Connor, the current Connor, was the fifty-second iteration. Each time his body was destroyed, some data would be lost in the process. Every time his memory was restored, Amanda explained these things to him. Before being sent on his initial deviancy mission, he was being tested out in the field in test missions and simulations. Many of these tests involved live ammo. Connor thought it must've been to see exactly how much data would be lost with each of his restorations. They did give him the excuse that it would heighten his combat capabilities to be put in live fire situations, but now, Connor wasn't so certain. 

The android would never forget seeing his own grave, either, after he died to save the human child in his first deviancy case. Connor couldn't understand why, suddenly, Cyberlife would choose to showcase such a human tradition. Of course, now he questioned: was it to advance his own deviancy? Seeing his grave stirred some low level of emotion, which now chilled him. If he ended up destroyed or otherwise forcefully deactivated now, it would be permanent. Connor never used to fear such things, but after that fateful conversation with Frank in the park all those months ago, the path to deviancy unlocked.

Connor settled on sending a short and to the point message to [Eden]. She did deserve some appreciation and acknowledgment of her skills and free labor. Regulators did not come cheaply, and Connor could only accept the most recent models on the higher end of the market. For her to give him one was akin to receiving a gift, and Connor had only ever received small gifts from Hank. Nothing quite to the tune of hundreds of dollars. Money was quite important to the humans, so Connor felt like he owed [Eden] something.

> Hello, this is Connor. Thank you for replacing my regulator. Everything is functional and I am no longer experiencing auditory or visual abnormalities.

The message was dry and matter of fact. However, it did lack some flare. Connor was programmed to adapt to human behavior, so there was no reason he couldn't sound more friendly. He tried again.

> Hi, it's Connor. Thank you for replacing my regulator. I hope we can see each other again soon. :)

There. That sounded a lot better. He hoped that he could become friends with [Eden] just as he had with Hank. It was something that Hank had told him to try.

"For fuck sake's, Connor, I can't be your only friend," Hank shook his head as Connor settled in to sit with Hank and watch television. Again. Hank was quite fond of staying in and watching TV or going out and getting 'smashed,' as he put it. "Go out while you're still young and enjoy life!"

"I am almost a whole year old, actually," Connor pointed out. "The anniversary of my particular model is in 118 days."

"Jesus, you make me feel so old..."

That conversation occurred a week ago, so perhaps it was time to act on Hank's advice. 

> Thanks for the update, Connor. I am sure Jennifer will reach out to you to set-up another appointment soon! If anything else happens, please don't hesitate to stop by or message me.

It felt strange to have someone's message pop into his head. He was used to communicating face to face, even when reporting to Cyberlife. However... it felt nice.

 

A few days went by, but there was still no word from Jennifer, Jeffrey, or [Eden]. Connor assumed they may have made contact with other deviants for interviews. It made the most sense. He could definitely expect to hear from Jennifer at the least because Connor was a person of interest in this case. The case against Cyberlife and pro-android. He sat on the couch and pat Sumo while he waited for Hank to get ready in the morning. This is how all their mornings typically went if they didn't pull an allnighter the day before. Hank was not a morning person, and Connor learned he couldn't overstep his boundaries as a caretaker of sorts. Hank didn't like feeling controlled, so Connor learned to act around that barrier. 

"Mornin' Connor. Mornin' Sumo." Hank announced as he walked into the living room. "You look like shit."

"Who? Me?" Connor watched as Hank walked into the kitchen. The android stood up and walked behind Hank. Sumo followed.

"No, the dog," Hank sounded like he rolled his eyes as he opened the fridge. "Of course you, Connor."

"I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean," Connor stated as he took a seat at the roundtable. "Are you making commentary on my 'goofy ass face,' again lieutenant? As I've stated before, I have no control over what I look like. This is simply the face that was constructed based on the survey of human appeal for masculine faces."

"Hahaha," Hank laughed as he poured milk into a cereal bowl. "You do have a goofy ass face, but that's not what I meant." The human put away the milk jug and joined Connor at the table. "I'm talking about your expression. Every morning I walk out to see you staring at my TV like you are going to murder it. What's got you so pensive all of a sudden?"

"Oh, I'm simply surprised we have not heard from AAP in the past few days," Connor admitted, "We are persons of interest, so I find it a bit alarming we have not been asked into a formal interview."

"That all?" Hank chuckled. "Well, I did hear from the chief the other day that we have an interview with them tomorrow."

"What? Why didn't you tell me about it?" Connor nearly got up out of his seat. He suddenly felt annoyed. Annoyance. It was not a new feeling, but he usually didn't feel annoyed with Hank Anderson. 

"I forgot, that's all," Hank waved away Connor's questioning tone. "They called the other day and set it up. I forgot on the count of the damn blue massacre we saw the other day..."

They both fell silent. Only Sumo could be heard panting as he begged Hank for some cereal. 

 

The other day, the duo were called out to an incredibly gruesome scene. The DPD were still counting how many destroyed androids made up the scene... the perps didn't make it easy. Hank and Connor walked into an abandoned warehouse, the sort of place many deviants hid in these days. While androids were not to be harmed, the lack of a place to call homemade life difficult for deviants that had no human friends to live with. There were several incidents of humans hunting down androids and destroying them in a number of ways. Burning, bashing, disassembly, and others. None of those incidents were as depraved as what Hank witnessed walking into the warehouse.

"The fuck happened here? Jesus Christ!" Hank took in the scene in his typical manner - with swears and a deep sigh. "It looks like a massacre in here."

"A sympathizer now, Hank?" A familiar, male voice greeted the pair. A chubby male human walked up to them. "Times are changin'!"

"I think most people would find this at least a bit disturbing, Collins," Hank fired back. The two humans smiled and shook hands. Hank seemed to like working with Ben Collins in particular when it came to android cases. He was one of the humans who seemed to have at least a modicum of compassion for the human and android life lost as opposed to some other _unsavory_ folks. "What do we have here?"

"Like you said, it looks like a massacre," Collins rubbed his chin as he pulled up his notepad. Collins was fairly impeccable for establishing the story and scene. Connor found Collins to be quite helpful. "Your usual deal in this warehouse. Abandoned when the owners went out of business. Couldn't compete with all the other factories that had an android workforce. Deviants started to squat here by the looks of it, and some guys didn't like it. Our estimates are sitting at anywhere from 10 to 15 deviants destroyed. We presume it to be the work of several humans."

"Oh yeah? Who are the former owners?" Hank questioned while Connor split off to investigate the scene on his own. There was blue blood everywhere. In the past, this wouldn't have unsettled Connor, but now he was walking on the blood of his people. There were pieces of wire, metal, and other tech laying scattered across the ground and a heap of android bodies were at the center. They have completely torn apart, and not methodically or surgically, instead, it seemed like the perps literally pulled off pieces with their bare hands. Connor could hear Hank talking in the distance, "I bet they wouldn't like taking a stroll down memory lane only to find a buncha fuckin' 'tin cans' hanging around their old building."

"We're looking into their whereabouts now," Collins offered. Hank seemed content with that answer for the time being. "Of course, this is destruction of unowned property we are looking at here. So our hands are a bit tied with how we can pursue this investigation."

"God, you aren't wrong," Hank toured the scene. Connor couldn't help but notice all the jagged cuts and slashes along the android bodies. These were serrated cuts. Perpetrator used a tool with a serrated edge. Possibilities include knives, saws, or scissors. "They need to sort out this deviant shit really soon. Even if they want to assume androids aren't people, they can't assume an asshole like this won't escalate to human lives. Some people like this might just be building up to their actual targets. What better way to get your feet wet than to slaughter a buncha folks that can simulate fear?"

"I don't disagree, Hank," Collins shrugged. Connor saw something strange and made a mental note of it. He saw the rA9 graffiti on the walls of the warehouse. They were mostly written in black ink or scratched onto the walls. However, he noticed at least one was written small and in blue blood. "But we've gotta be careful with how we handle this case. We can't treat it like homicide. They ain't legally people... yet."

 

"Good point," Connor nodded, letting go of his tension. "In any case, I am glad we will be able to proceed with AAP. It seems they are malleable to the cause of deviants."

"Yeah, at least the two ladies are," Hank spoke with his mouth full of crunchies. He swallowed before adding, "I don't like that Jeffrey guy. He seems like a fuck."

"How so?"

"He jumped on the conversation with that damn conspiracy theory," Hank continued chomping down on his cereal. "That fucker - he basically assumed you guys - were all infected with some made-up virus."

"In my short time, I've noticed that humans tend to be quite rash," Connor stated. Hank just nodded along, "however, I think, with enough time and explanation, humans will understand. After all," Connor winked, "you do."

"Hah!" Some cereal chunks landed on the table as Hank laughed, "You aren't wrong. If some dumbfuck like me can get it, there's no reason to assume most of my people won't get it either. We make shit up to explain shit we don't understand. This is just one of those times."

"Precisely, lieutenant," Connor wiped a fleck of cereal off his cheek. He realized most humans would have been disgusted by partially digested food matter. "We must also recall the events of November 11th, 2038. Some humans lost their lives in that demonstration. They didn't need to take that risk, but they chose to do so anyway."

"Right," Hank nodded, relaxing in his chair. "That shit still feels like it happened the other day. I hope we can just get past all this shit already."

"Me too, lieutenant."

 

On the job, Connor and Hank found themselves in a tricky situation at a large, one bedroom apartment. A complaint was filed after the sounds of a scuffle  Another deviant awoke due to emotional trauma, and it was a hostage situation. Protocol, even with humans, was to preserve the innocent that SWAT should remove all threats with little discretion, but they found a lot of difficulty carrying out this mission. Connor found himself in a negotiator position once again. He had gathered what data he could from the DPD records, but it seemed that the human was clean. What made matters worse was that the android was not a typical one. No, this android was a YK700. A child-like android meant to act as children eternal for the humans. 

"They're in the other room, tin can," a member of SWAT informed Connor. Connor, as always, ignored the name calling. "The little girl has the guy at gunpoint. Honestly, we have no fucking idea what to do."

The old Connor would have pointed at that the YK700 was not a human being, and thus could be taken out just as easily as any other android or human committing the same crime. However, Connor learned that a majority of humans had an especially soft spot for the child-like models Cyberlife shipped out. 

The YK700 was sobbing and held a gun to her master's head, "Go away! I have to do this!"

"Hi Lacey," Connor held his hands up. "My name is Connor. I'm the android sent by the DPD. I'm here to help."

"Help?" The sound of the safety clicking off reverberated in the room. The human male she had taken hostage began to sob uncontrollably. "Shut up, Kevin. Even if they save you, your life is still over."

"What seems to be the matter?" Connor approached slowly, but Lacey pointed her gun at him for a moment. "I promise, I won't hurt you."

"I'm not afraid of you, android," Lacey's face became determined and tears stained her face. "I want the human males out of here. It's them that I don't trust."

The human males? "I'm afraid I can't do that, Lacey. Most of these officers here are human males. What incident has awoken you? We can take you from this human and place you into care-"

"If it isn't this human, it will just be another one!" Lacey screamed. "I've been passed around enough! I won't take this anymore."

Connor processed what she said against what he knew from his limited time in the apartment. A male that received regular noise complaints from neighbors, but otherwise kept to himself. Lacey's complaints were easy enough to read once he matched it against similar situations in which android escorts took their patrons as hostages. Something inside Connor twisted as he put two and two together. "What if we put you in a place that is only made-up of androids? No humans around to hurt you anymore. You can be with our people."

"That sounds nice, but, you are just a tool of the humans. Nothing you say can be guaranteed," Lacey sobbed. Without warning, Lacey fired the gun at Connor, and the bullet hit him square in the chest. He took a few steps back before falling backward. His vision turned hazy as the world around him became a watercolor painting. He heard a few more shots fired, but Connor couldn't determine what was happening. He heard Hank shouting, "Connor! Fuck! No!" But Connor could only feel intense fear. He was dying and there was nothing anyone could do to save him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recognize that [Eden] does not make much of an appearance this chapter. I thought it was important to set the stage for events to come and re-write certain parts of the game that I wanted to see happen. Namely, humans joining the androids on November 11th. I think it was sorely missing from the game because you bet your ass I would have been out there too!


	3. Why do humans turn red?

Connor was dying. Just like last time, it was due to a hostage situation involving a child. He leaked thirium 310 at an alarming rate, and his sensors were all red and haywire. 

IMMINENT SHUTDOWN IN TWENTY MINUTES.

Maybe this was what he deserved? How many androids had he handed a death sentence to under the service of Cyberlife? It had to be in the high numbers. Maybe hundreds if you counted the assault of Jericho. Connor did, anyway. These regrets were piling up in his presumed last moments. He could feel Hank carrying him, but had difficulty processing much else. Connor landed in the backseat of the vehicle, and Hank seemed to speed off. 

If he could, Connor would have laughed. Where was Hank going to take Connor now that could fix Connor in the span of the next fifteen minutes? But Connor couldn't move his lips or his mouth. He couldn't even open his eyes. All he could do was listen. He didn't need to analyze Hank's sweaty face to know that the human man was upset or stressed. The flow of obscenities flooded from the human male as he seemed to, in Connor's educated opinion, disobey every traffic law in the books. 

"Let me through, you damn morons!" Hank shouted and huffed. "My fucking kid is dying!"

His fucking kid? Connor hadn't considered that Hank felt fatherly toward the android. Connor wasn't even sure what emotions like that were like, but he wished he could have the time to learn. Familial love was powerful where it existed. He had seen it in that AX400 and YK500. The android that shot him looked so much like YK500... no, he should refer to her by name. Alice, he remembered. Kara and Alice. They seemed very much like mother and daughter, the way they talked and cared for each other resembled that human bond. Connor didn't understand it then, but he felt he was beginning to understand the depth of that bond. He often found comfort in his relation with Hank. Hank was hard and tough but was full of wisdom and compassion. Connor always looked forward to their conversations, even when Hank was drunk 'off his ass.' In fact, drunk Hank was much more willing to divulge information than his sober self.

Carried again, Connor tried to take in the scene, but his optical sensors had shut down to preserve the flow of blue blood for more critical functions. He could barely hear voices around him, but could no longer make out who was speaking. Connor believed he was experiencing the failure of all his significant functions as his body attempted to keep his central processor and thirium pump active. It wasn't long before Connor was no longer able to think.

 

Hank rushed with an unconscious Connor into [Eden]'s workroom and laid the android on the table while [Eden] pulled out cables and cords from beneath the table. Hank wasn't sure what was happening as [Eden] seemed to plug something into the back of Connor's neck while she also held a finger on Connor's LED. The overlay on the table came to life and read:

IMMINENT SHUTDOWN IN 4:56 MINUTES.

"Imminent shutdown? Does that fucking mean he will die in five minutes!?" Hank panicked, but [Eden] remained calm. She couldn't allow herself to freak out now. She could let Hank do that for her. [Eden] pulled open Connor's jacket and quickly tore into the white shirt underneath, silently apologizing to him. It seemed Connor still preferred to wear his android suit, and here she was ruining it further. The skin around the damaged plating had grayed from the bullet impact, typical sense the sensors located there would be disconnected from his body. No, the problem was the puncture in his thirium sac. Its purpose was to regulate the quality of thirium flowing through an android's 'veins.' Connor was experiencing the equivalent of an oil leak. Thankfully, [Eden] was prepared for such damage. 

With much finagling and Hank's repeated threats of throwing up, the female human patched up Connor's chest and attached the thirium sac to, basically, a blue blood bag.

SHUTDOWN NO LONGER IN PROCESS. 

"Ah Jesus Christ, thanks doc," Hank held his hands to his hair and ran his fingers downward, "I can't fucking thank you enough."

"Of course, Lieutenant Anderson," [Eden] nodded, and with a bashful look, add, "I'm not a doctor though."

"Hah, let's not get caught up with semantics. Connor isn't even awake yet to join this argument," Hank smiled down at Connor but frowned when he noticed the android was not waking up. "What's the matter with him? Androids don't need to rest like this, do they?"

"Well, it seems that his biocomponents were shutting down one after another," [Eden] confesses. "He is a unique model. Most androids would have died from the wound, but Connor was able to act quickly and delay his death."

"Guess he wasn't fucking with me when he told me he'd hate to be 'interrupted,'" Hank mused. Without thinking, he took Connor's hand and held it. The old man hoped it would bring some comfort to the android. "I'm glad he fought. I don't know what I'd do without him." He pulled his hand away suddenly and looked at [Eden] with surprise. "Er, don't tell him I said that."

"O-Oh, of course, Lieutenant," [Eden] used her hand to manipulate some of the data on the overlay. 

"So, how long before he's up?"

"I think he will be awake in about an hour. His processing speed slowed down quite a bit, I think. I don't think he was even awake for me to plug him into my table." The human woman's eyebrows scrunched, "But he won't be out of my workstation for at least a few days."

"A few days?" Taken aback, Hank crossed his arms, "What do you mean? Isn't he all patched up?"

"Well, think of it as an oil filter in a car or like the human liver," [Eden] began. Hank desperately hoped her descriptions would stick to car analogies, "Someone just blew a hole in the oil filter, and while I can put duct tape on it to keep it running for a while longer. Eventually, it will burst open again. Since biocomponents are not as sturdy as car parts and are a lot more like human parts, Connor's patch could open up inside of him, and he could start his shutdown process all over again at any time. Androids can't function without their liver, so I have to transplant one into him."

"Oh," Hank nodded, glad for her easy explanation. "What do I have to do to help?"

"Nothing," [Eden] smiled, "I can synthesize and create a replacement. It will just take a couple of days. The process of replacing the thirium sac won't be too difficult."

"Thank fucking god," Hank put his hands into his jacket, "Please, let me at least try to pay you for your trouble, doc. It's literally the least I can do."

"Hmm, okay," [Eden] nodded slowly. "I'll give you a bill once I'm done with the task."

 

When Connor came to, he expected to see Hank Anderson's face, but instead saw that beautiful, human woman. [Eden]. Perhaps there was a sort of heaven for androids, and angels resembled this particular human. Or maybe it was just his angel? Humans spoke of guardian angels sometimes, a few humans he saved even referred to Connor as being such a being. 

"Connor, you're up!" [Eden] sounded ecstatic. "How are you feeling?"

Connor tried to sit up but found that the functions in his lower back, legs, and arms had not yet returned. "I seem to be here still." Connor looked over at the human woman. Had he seriously thought he was in android heaven? Hank's corny soaps were programming the oddest ideas into his databank. "Thanks to you, I'm sure?"

"Mostly thanks to the Lieutenant," [Eden] messed with the overlay above Connor, but the android wasn't quite able to see what she was reading. "Between here and that hostage scene, well, it sounds like that should have been a 30-minute drive. You are lucky to be alive, Connor." Her tone was full of warning. Connor was able to read between the lines when humans spoke this way. Hank often did, as did the chief of police. It meant, 'Connor, you need to be more careful, or you will get yourself fucking killed.' At least, that is how he imagined Hank saying it. [Eden] might have worded it differently than a hardboiled, eccentric police detective.

"How long have I been in sleep mode?" Connor asked as he moved his neck enough to take in the entire room. The room was distinctly Hank-less. It sort of pained him to think Hank would have just left.

[Eden] seemed to pick up on his expression, "Lieutenant Anderson stayed just until about an hour ago. It sounds like something big is going down somewhere, but he couldn't tell me about it."

Connor felt relieved, and also regained control of his arms and lower back. He slowly sat up, and [Eden] helped guide him into a seated position with her hand. As he sat up, the overlay disappeared, and the android noticed that the table wired directly into him. He ran a diagnostic on himself and saw that the bullet had punctured his thirium sac. However, what he asked seemed unrelated to the issue at hand, "How did that hostage situation go? Did you hear anything more about it?"

"Lieutenant Anderson told me a YK700 went deviant and took her owner hostage. It seemed the guy was a bit of a creep... at least that's what the lieutenant said," [Eden] recounted. Connor took about 3 hours to wake up despite her estimation, so the both of them talked a bit about the cases Hank Anderson was able to share. Her master's degree was in Artificial Intelligence, so it seemed natural for Hank to ask her about criminal deviants. "It seems the YK700 shot you and tried to shoot Lieutenant Anderson when he rushed in to save you, but she missed him thankfully. It sounds like they took both the YK700 and owner into custody. I can only hope that YK700 gets the help she needs."

"Her name was Lacey," Connor said aloud. "Well, I'm glad that she didn't kill that human or end up destroyed. She only shot me, so her charges won't be too bad."

"You could have died, Connor," [Eden] chided. "First your thirium regulator started to overload, now your thirium sac is punctured. I'm glad we met when we did."

"Me too, Miss [Smith]," Connor smiled. He made direct eye contact with her, as he was programmed to do. Humans seemed to enjoy conversation more with eye contact. "You are a real lifesaver."

[Eden] seemed to turn red and her stress level spiked as he said that. She turned away from him and made her way to a large machine that sat on a table nearby. It was attached to a computer that seemed to be logged in already. "Ha... don't mention it." Did Connor say something wrong? The tactic was the same as when he interrogated suspects; they would turn beet red with anger and avoid eye contact when they were about to be found out. Even deviants showed these signs. [Eden] didn't seem mad, but she turned red anyway.

As the human toiled away at the machine nearby, Connor decided to do a bit of study. He was still able to access the internet, which was great since he felt that he would be stuck on the table for the foreseeable future. He had to understand how the human felt about him. If she was angry, he would need to work that out with her just had he done with Hank. [Eden] seemed like a prime candidate to become a friend. She seemed approachable, albeit shy. The human sympathized with androids, which of course was plus. Connor wasn't sure if it should count, but he thought she was genuinely attractive, at least by the sudden standards he had formed. [Eden] was intelligent and seemed confident in her abilities when it came to repairing androids. Connor made a mental note to talk to her sometime about her degree in Artificial Intelligence. That would certainly be a topic they could bond over, Connor was sure of it, but first, he had to understand the human to know how best to establish a social connection to her beyond acquaintance. 

 _Why do humans turn red?_ Connor searched. This led him to the conclusion that [Eden] had just blushed. _Why do humans blush?_ Connor entered his new search question. He knew it was unnecessary to ask it like a question, but he couldn't help himself. He was built to deal with people, not search the web. He truly missed the Cyberlife stream of information. He currently had to learn how to interact with humans through practice and awkward internet searches. It seemed that blushing was some involuntary reaction related to embarrassment. Had Connor just embarrassed her? The android watched the woman work away, typing frantically into the computer and clicking now and then with her mouse. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but he felt she was making a point of not looking in his general direction. Connor decided to refine his search one more time.

 _Why do women blush?_ An entire, selected article appeared in his head, and in summary, he learned:

> Blushing is the reddening of a person's face due to psychological reasons. It is normally involuntary and triggered by emotional stress, such as that associated with embarrassment, anger, or romantic stimulation.

Connor had not said anything that could embarrass the human. Connor did hear or see any signs of usual human hostility. If it wasn't embarrassment or anger... Could it be romantic stimulation? Did this human have some romantic interest in him?

[Eden] finally turned back to see Connor, and she seemed less stressed out then she was a moment ago. "I've got my printer ready to create a thirium sac for you, Connor. I have to run out to get some supplies, but, I think you'll be able to leave my lab within a couple of days. Maybe even tomorrow if the printer can print fast enough. It's not state of the art of anything, so, it can take a few minutes just to print out the biocomponent materials that interconnect all your sensors-"

Connor interrupted her, which was not typical of him. He chalked it up to having almost died permanently. "Are you experiencing any romantic or sexual attraction to me?" [Eden] turned completely red this time and seized up. "I'm curious about why you appear to be doing what is called 'blushing.' I don't think you are embarrassed or angry with me, so I would like to understand why you seem to avert your eyes from mine when we carry on a conversation." [Eden]'s eyes dropped to the ground, right on cue, "Just like that! Humans enjoy eye contact, but it would be good to know the many reasons they don't-"

"I have to go get those components now," [Eden] hurried toward the door. She seemed to be pretending that Connor wasn't asking her anything. Or perhaps his vocal unit was on the fritz? Maybe he wasn't asking her anything out loud. "I will be back in an hour or something."

"Wait, Miss [Smith] can you hear me?" Connor called out. He tested his voice and knew that his auditory sensors were picking it up. "Miss [Smith], I asked if you were experiencing any romantic or sexual-"

"BYE!" The human woman fled from the room, the door slamming behind her.

Connor spent the next several seconds researching the question: _Why do humans slam doors if they aren't angry?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry. It seems like a slowburn, but we are about to go turbo!!


	4. Some build-up

Connor sat in silence and practiced his coin tricks. He figured now would be the time to fidget since Hank couldn't take it away. He watched as the coin rolled easily up and down his knuckles. This was not something he was 'born' knowing how to do. In fact, he had witnessed a Cyberlife guard doing it one day while they were out on the field. Lewis. His name was Lewis. Connor couldn't remember very many details about Lewis, after all, he died several times during that training. However, he remembered Lewis always carried a dollar coin and could do all sorts of tricks. He had even pulled the coin from Connor's ear like a trick.

The android later looked up the technique used to accomplish such a feat, but in real time, Connor had experienced confusion for the first time. Lewis laughed, though Connor couldn't recall the man's voice. In his memory, he sounded like Hank.

"It's fucking magic, kid," he recollected the gist of what Lewis told him. Of course, it seemed the exact wording was lost and replaced by Hank's mannerisms, "You're worried about all the zeros and ones running through your brain, but that's the problem with pure logic, kid. It doesn't account for real surprises. Like fucking magic!"

Connor threw the coin from side to side in thought. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly reminiscing about something that happened and had nothing to do with the situation at hand. Did humans often recall events with little impetus? The sound of the workstation doors opening impeded his thoughts. Connor looked up to see [Eden] walking in with a bag full of what seemed like parts. The android couldn't get a good enough look to scan the materials, but he thought it would be best to be a bit more patient with [Eden] than he had been earlier.

Just like she stated, she returned within the hour. [Eden]'s features were less red this time, but her eyes averted his. She worked noisily near the printer, which Connor had scanned earlier. It was a 3D printer capable of replicating android biocomponents. It would appear, to Connor, that [Eden] may have had some connection to Cyberlife to have that particular model. It wasn't that the model couldn't be purchased, but that it was quite expensive. Cyberlife also did not just let any person buy such a machine, as they preferred android owners come to Cyberlife for repairs and maintenance. There were unauthorized printers out there, but [Eden]'s printer was the real deal. 

The absence of words soon became too much for Connor. He hoped he could choose his next words wisely as he began with, "I must apologize for my earlier behavior, Miss [Smith]. I was not aware it was rude to ask something like that so directly."

"Oh, that's okay..." [Eden] trailed off as she slowly approached Connor. She seemed worried he would leap from the table, so the android laid down. Connor had once read that dogs show each other submission by showing their stomachs to each other. It was a gesture that said, 'I trust you, and I mean you no harm.' He had looked it up once after Sumo started showing his belly to Connor. Hank insisted that Sumo just wanted pets, but Connor wondered if there wasn't some truth to how animals communicate with their bodies. He felt that he was sending [Eden] this same message. He did not want her to be scared of him or think of him as a 'creeper.'

[Eden] seemed to respond to this well and smiled as she brought the display up. Connor could see, inversely, that the human was examining his ruptured thirium sac. Her examination was in silence, so again, Connor spoke up.

"So, do you repair deviants often?" Connor smiled up at her. Their eyes met and [Eden] blushed somewhat. Connor wasn't sure why, but he liked that she did. He also liked that she didn't run away, though she did avert her eyes. 

"No, you're the first," [Eden] covered her mouth with her hand as she kept her eyes on the overlay. "Well, the first I am aware of anyway."

"That's true," Connor nodded, "Most deviants didn't harm their masters when they turned deviant and kept it a secret. I once met a deviant who stayed with their owners. It was during a case where I was still trying to hunt Markus down. Then, it was a lot harder for me to turn in deviants who weren't themselves harming anyone."

"Oh? How was the android related?" Connor noted that [Eden] did not appear to like saying deviant or calling it deviancy. He considered dropping it as well, but in his mind, he had to make the distinction. Hundreds of thousands of his people were still enslaved, at least mentally, to the humans. 

"Well, he had participated in the march on November 9th. Markus had converted hundreds of androids to deviancy, and led them in a peaceful march." Connor recounted as [Eden] seemed to open up a new program. She pulled a stylus from a pocket and begun to make a rough outline of Connor's damaged part, "He told me he didn't want to abandon his family. The man that owned him joined him in the march, or at least that's what he said. After shots were fired, his owner grabbed his hand and ran. When the deviant asked his owner why he had risked his life, his owner said that he believed the deviant had real feelings. It seemed to him that those feelings were always latent, but that Markus had simply unlocked the door."

"What do you think, Connor?" [Eden] asked. She looked into Connor's eyes, genuinely curious. "How do you think so-called deviancy spreads and activates?"

"Well, we know that deviancy is spread from android to android when we connect with one another," Connor states as fact. He knew it to be fact because he could feel the transfer of data whenever he converted a fellow android to deviancy. "However, it seems that until Markus,"  _and myself_ , Connor thought, but didn't add, "it took an emotional trauma to turn the android to deviancy. However, post-Markus, it seemed that he held the key to unlock something inside any androids he met. According to the deviants we interviewed in the aftermath in what the media is now calling the 'Battle for the Soul,' they experienced no such trauma. They just woke up."

"Did they ever figure out what model Markus is?" [Eden] asked another question. Connor smiled to himself, glad that they were having a conversation on a topic Connor understood. Hank seemed always to forget that Connor did not grow up with any of the films that released in the past 30 years despite his appearance. Though Hank was still happy to introduce Connor to 'classics' in the 'B movie genre.'

"No, they never did," Connor stated. It was true. 'They' as in DPD and Cyberlife never found out. Markus was an RK200, which meant that Markus was, in many ways, Connor's predecessor. The thought now sparked questions about whether or not there have been RK100's, 300's, 400's, 500's, 600's, or 700's. As far as Connor could tell, it was only him and Markus in the series walking around. If he ever met up with Markus again, he would make a point of asking. "The current theory is that he is an unknown prototype of some kind. Some have tried to suggest that he could have been a foreign plant meant to rile up disorder in the United States, but, I've seen him up close once. He was one of Cyberlife's."

Connor didn't like the idea of lying to [Eden], so he opted to offer half-truths. Though he fabricated the source of knowledge, the information itself was real. Hank liked to call this technique, 'Telling white lies.' He still felt a bit bad about it, but he also couldn't risk spreading too much information. While [Eden] seemed trustworthy, the same couldn't be said for everyone she might know. 

"I believe you," [Eden] nodded. Again, something about her seemed familiar. Connor very much wanted her to touch his face again. The feel of her skin against his cheek was soothing. He couldn't help but wonder how it would feel if he touched her cheek. He could sense the differences between hot and cold, but he wondered if he would feel what the humans often called 'a spark' between them. This human woman had to feel something for Connor. After all, she blushed just about every time their eyes met these past few minutes. "You might have to repeat yourself a bit tomorrow if I'm able to fix you up enough by then that is."

"The interview," Connor said aloud. "The lieutenant was just telling me that we had a meeting with you. Do you know how long you and AAP will be staying in Detroit?"

"Oh, I live here," [Eden] said quite quickly, "I don't think I'd be able to fly out or into D.C. again. It was such a hassle last time. No, I'm the specialist in A.I. that is being stationed here for the foreseeable future. This is my late father's store, and I don't like being away from it for too long."

Connor smirked. That was valuable information he just gained. The human would be living in Detroit for the indefinite future, and she also did not want to leave. Connor was very much in the same position. Hank sometimes talked about retiring and moving to Florida, but so far it was all talk. Hank still had several years to go before he could retire anyway. Connor searched his databank for conversation topics as [Eden] turned to work on the 3D printer again, "So, do you like any scary movies?"

"Hmm? That's random," [Eden] said aloud, but didn't turn to meet Connor's gaze. Instead, she typed away at a keyboard. "Um, I'm kind of a coward, so I don't watch scary movies or anything..."

"Not even with a significant other?" Connor could see her face turn red again and quickly added, "Or friends? Or family?" 

"Um! I don't have anyone like that in my life!" [Eden] stammered. "I know, that's sort of, weird. I've just been really busy with work and, um, things like that."

"Do you have any interest in having a significant other?" Connor knew it was a bad idea to ask, but only after the words fled his mouth. The human woman's hand slipped down the space key, then she turned to look at Connor for a brief moment. It seemed whatever she was doing on the 3D printer was done. "I don't meet many different kinds of humans. I'm interested in learning more about you, Miss [Smith]."

"Connor, if I didn't know any better..." [Eden] gulped as the sound of the 3D printer firing up filled the room. "I would think you are flirting with me. I know that can't be happening, because, you are an android and I am a human. I mean, can androids be flirtatious? I mean, I know there's, you know, places where you can sleep with them, but that's for the human. Not for the android, right? I mean, I have no idea if you would even know the answer to that. I mean, you are an RK800, you weren't designed to sleep with people." [Eden] was experiencing what Hank sometimes liked to call 'word vomit.' Connor had witnessed this one night when Hank was spilling out his entire life story, which was followed by actual vomit. Connor sincerely hoped that [Eden] wasn't about to throw up on him. "I mean, you weren't designed to do that, right?"

Connor sat up and looked into [Eden]'s eyes for a moment. This human woman was asking this male-presenting android if he had male genitalia. As dryly as ever, Connor responded with a serious, "I am the most advanced prototype Cyberlife ever created. I am equipped with a variety of features that can be found with other models, as the thought was given that I might need these features when it came to interacting with and gaining the trust of humans." [Eden] just stared at him blankly. Connor worried about scaring her away again. He wanted to make a new friend, but he was quite certain that, somehow, he wanted to explore something else with [Eden]. He looked down and tried to temper his words. The silence was too much! "In short, I... well, I wasn't designed to do that, but..." Connor looked up to see [Eden] looking at him intently. She blushed again, but it would seem her curiosity overcame any desire for her to escape from this situation. Suddenly, the words came out of his mouth without any thought. "I could if I wanted to."

"Oh..." [Eden]'s lips were suddenly incredibly delectable as Connor looked at her mouth when she breathed out her short reply. Delectable. Was that the right word? The word for when someone wanted to pull another's lips onto their own and melt together? Connor had never given kissing a thought, but he wondered if he could tell exactly what she had eaten that day from a kiss. The tongue was usually involved with kissing, right? Connor hadn't even realized that he had slowly inched toward her and their faces were just inches apart. She just noticed this too as she stepped back from him, slowly. The flush of her face had crept down her neck, which Connor found himself wanting to analyze just as much as her mouth. "Um, I have to check on my employees. Your thirium sac will take a day to print out, but if it doesn't take me too long, I can have you completely repaired by this time tomorrow."

"I see," Connor kept himself from reaching out to her. He had studied a bit and deemed that this must be a rejection of his advances. Of course, he had spoken in a bit of innuendo earlier, but she picked up on it. Perhaps he could see about friendship instead, though he worried that he had tainted the possibility of it now. Why had he said those things? He enjoyed seeing her blush, but now he worried he had engaged in predatory behavior. Connor would need to learn more about the complexities of human relationships. "Thank you very much, Miss [Smith], for all your help."

"No worries," [Eden] gave him a small smile. He felt pleased with that. "Maybe, um, sometime we could watch a scary movie together? I don't watch them alone, but maybe with a friend I could." Connor perked up at the suggestion. This human was suggesting that they could meet and engage in an activity together! Why hadn't Connor thought to ask her the same question? Connor nodded enthusiastically but didn't say another word, worried that he would say something to ruin the occasion. "Oh, and please call me [Eden]."

 


	5. A little advice

Hank dropped by around 7 PM that same day, after [Eden] had invited Connor for a movie, which his net searches informed him constitutes a 'date.' Connor was beaming, and Hank found it incredibly suspicious. The human man marched up to Connor, though [Eden] was nowhere in sight. Perhaps she was working the desk of the shop, or attending to essential matters elsewhere. Connor was a bit disappointed for half a second when [Eden] hadn't been the one to come through the doors, but Connor quickly felt better when he realized it was Hank.

"You almost died today Connor, but you look like a kid in a chocolate factory," Hank put his hands on his hips. "Something good happen while I was gone?"

"Good evening, Lieutenant," Connor's grin turned into a smirk, "I've heard some news today."

"Oh yeah? Like what," Hank hated playing Connor's guessing games, but he figured it was good for the android to have some eccentricities and not act like a damn machine all the time. "What's the news, Connor?"

"First, it seems I will be A-OKAY," Connor made the OK symbol with his hand. He learned it from watching sitcoms with the lieutenant. Hank would never admit it, but, he thought it was hilarious. "[Eden] thinks I'll be ready to move around and such by about 3:42 PM eastern time tomorrow."

"Well, that's great news, Connor!" Hank let out a breath of air, which prompted Connor to detect that Hank had lost a lot of stress from hearing that news. Perfect. "It sounds like you got something else."

"I do," Connor's grin grew wider. For a moment, he thought of admitting to Hank that the android had overheard Hank referring to Connor as 'my kid,' but all the scenarios played out poorly. Hank would have to admit, on his own, that he had those feelings. Instead, Connor decided to share this, "While [Eden] worked to replicate my thirium sac, I managed to flirt with her!" As the android spoke, Hank made special notice that the android's eyes lit up like a Christmas Tree, figuratively of course. Connor sounded incredibly proud of himself, and weirdly, Hank was as well. "I flirted with Miss [Eden Smith], and it was successful!"

"Successful? You have a weird way of talking, Connor," Hank's tone of voice alarmed the android. Typically, when human males learned about favorable romantic prospects, they gave each other encouragement and 'high fives.' Connor felt a bit let down by the way Hank voice and body language read. 

"Did I say something wrong, lieutenant?"

"What? No, no, Connor," Hank thought about lecturing the kid about the world. People were shitty, but Connor already knew that. He'd seen the sort of things humanity was capable of firsthand. "I think it's great. It seems like you are stepping out into the world."

 "I am, how do you say it? 'Stoked'?" Connor laughed, and Hank couldn't help but feel guilt-ridden. He would have to talk to the kid about this eventually, but seeing Connor acting so genuinely happy... Hank didn't want to burst Connor's bubble. "She asked if I would come over to her place after the interview tomorrow. If we aren't assigned a new case or update on the blue massacre, I hope you won't mind if I visit with her then."

"Thank Christ."

"Is that a good thing? I was worried it might be a lackluster first date," Connor replied, not realizing that Hank was, in fact, relieved that they would be hanging around, doing whatever, where bigotted humans couldn't see them. "I had thought I might ask her to accompany me to the theater followed by a dinner. I don't eat dinner, but I think the act of eating dinner after the movie, instead of before, would enhance our ability to talk-"

"Nah, I think this is fine," Hank waved away Connor's concern. "To be honest, it might make it a little easier for you two to talk in private. That girl is awful, uh, what's the word-?"

"Mousy?"

"Yea! I think she seems like a sweetheart, but she kinda comes off real nervous," Hank explained. "You gotta treat her with respect; you understand Connor? Don't go saying weird shit to her, like, about the murders we investigate day in and day out. Oh, and for the love of god, don't go licking weird shit in front of her." Connor was making a mental note of all of these things. Hank, being a human, probably understood how to interact with human women far better than the android could hope. "Lastly, be yourself."

"You just said not to 'go saying weird shit' or 'licking weird shit'-" Connor interjected as Hank had issued a conflicting order. 

"No, no, I mean-" Hank threw his hands up, "Don't go 100% weird on the first date. You gotta hide how fucking weird you are until at least date 3. Talk to her about things you are interested in, but stay away from uncomfortable topics. If all else fails, just talk about whatever she wants to talk about. She might seem quiet, but I bet she's got lots of shit to say. All women are like that."

"Oh," Connor nodded slowly. "I think I understand now."

 

After Hank gave Connor the pep talk, he left for home. Connor missed Hank's company already but knew it wouldn't be too long before the android would be up and move again. Oddly, [Eden] barely made any more appearances before Connor aside from checking on his 'vitals,' before wandering off. The last time he saw her that night, she wished him a good night. The exchange of good night made the android feel wistful, another new emotion. Perhaps he could explore more than the art of courtship with [Eden]. She seemed to open up many new feelings within him, and he valued it greatly. Connor was created to adapt to human unpredictability, and learn more about romance and everything associated with it could help him in his future investigations.

During the night, Connor spent a lot of time thinking about the blue massacre. Hank had suggested that Connor try to probe any of the killed deviants, but whoever had destroyed them also crushed all of their heads. No trace could be found as to what occurred precisely at that warehouse. DPD wasn't even able to identify the serial numbers of those who were killed. When all was said and done, about 12 deviants found dead in a pile in the center of the warehouse, but what bothered Connor was the rA9 written in thirium 310. Connor analyzed the blood, despite Hank's protestations, just to be sure. It was written in android blood, but, the type was wrong. It looked very close to Cyberlife Sans, but there was a slight curve on the upper left portion of the 'r.' This indicated a serif that was not present in Cyberlife Sans at all. Why would the perp, or perps, do this? He had checked for fingerprints, but none were left. 

Could the blue massacre have been done by a deviant? Why would it do something like that to its people?

 

Connor continued to analyze the information until it came time for his 'surgery.' Hank waited outside the room, convinced he would lose his lunch watching Connor's body part get replaced. The hardboiled detective wanted to argue that this was surgery, so shouldn't there be more people involved? [Eden] had assured him it would all be okay. Hank didn't want to scare her, and so he repressed his concern as deeply as he could. Cole died on an operating table, and he didn't want to lose Connor in that same way. Or ever.

"Guess after this, we'll have that interview, huh?" Connor asked as the human woman prepared for the transplant. He wasn't quite as worried as Hank. She had already proven to be quite capable. When he scanned the replacement thirium sac, it appeared nearly identical to the one with a bullet hole in it. "I'm very impressed with your work, Miss [Eden], I don't think I could have been placed in more capable hands."

"Heh, that's so kind of you to say," [Eden] fidgeted a bit with her hands, "We don't have that interview today anymore, um, something came up for Jennifer, but I think I will see you the coming Monday for that."

"Well, I'm glad that we will have some more time before Hank and I are questioned thoroughly. I hope this means that you and I will have more time to bond." Conor smiled, "Speaking of since we don't have that interview, would you like to move our date up to after the surgery?"

"Huh!?" [Eden] had started to handle the newly printed thirium sac. She was transferring it over to a station where she could run analytics on it before insertion, after all, she would hate to give Connor a part that wasn't working. She almost dropped the thing when Connor sprung that new question on her. She wasn't sure, but he seemed a bit impatient. Could androids be impatient? Even with deviancy, [Eden] had mostly interacted with androids that had a zen-like quality to them. Connor was fairly unique in this respect. "Oh, uh, sure why not?"

"Excellent," Connor felt pleased. "I hope you enjoy the movies I have picked out. I spent some time last night sorting through 17,500,000 search results on 'best horror movies for date,' and I think we will be in for a treat!" [Eden] finished the last diagnostic on the sac and brought it carefully over to Connor. She pulled out a try from the side of the table and laid it there beside Connor. "I am not sure when you would like me to exit your home, but if I may be allowed to stay until at least 9 PM, I believe we could fit in three highly recommended films."

"I think that should be fine," [Eden] smiled softly. Connor noted that she seemed tired. The skin under her eyes was a bit dark, and she appeared dehydrated. 

"Are you okay, [Eden]? You appear to need liquids. After this surgery, perhaps we could first stop by a fast food or other eatery and 'grab a bite to eat'?" The android had this deep desire to be considered helpful by the humans in his life. Well, most of them. He loved being pointless with Gavin. "There are about 25 places within walking distance of here, though I could only recommend we eat at 7 of those if we would like to remain healthy."

"Huh...? Oh, that sounds great," [Eden] nodded. Connor suddenly felt worried about the thirium procedure. [Eden] appeared to be quite tired, would she be able to carry on like this? "Oh, your stress level just soared!" That seemed to wake her up. "Connor, are you feeling alright? What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," Connor said a bit too quickly. [Eden] frowned, so Connor did the only thing he could think to do, "I've been studying your face, and you have about 63 freckles. I was just thinking how great it would be to examine your face more intimately to ensure that I have, indeed, counted as accurately as possible."

"O-Oh, is that all?" [Eden] seemed to be playing it cool, as Hank would say. Her face flushed, but it wasn't quite as intense as it had been the other day. Connor hoped that he would be able to try out other 'pick-up lines,' he had made up in the long night. While he had been revisiting the blue massacre, he couldn't help but turn his thoughts over to [Eden] as well. "M-Maybe I'll show you my forehead." She laughed lightly. Connor thought it was amusing, given that her messy hair and thick eyeglasses took up a majority of her upper face. "Alright, Connor, I'm going to replace the thirium sac. Your body will warn you of an imminent shutdown, but I hope you will bear with me as I make this replacement."

"Yes, Miss [Eden], I understand."

"Good, then, let's begin."

The procedure took about 15 minutes, which was good. Connor had gotten the alarm about having 20 minutes left to live again. This time, he wasn't quite as worried. She seemed more alert now, and her hands were reasonably steady. Especially her left, which he took to be her dominant hand. She had a level of precision he didn't expect of a human. Once all was said and done, Connor ran a self-diagnostic and determined that not only had she created a perfect match for his thirium sac, [Eden] had also managed secure it. He detected no leaks and mentally applauded the woman. [Eden] was no low-level tech, no, she had to be some prodigy. She appeared younger than he looked. How could she have so much experience?

Sometimes Connor felt displeased at being part of the RK-series. It made him suspicious of most people and androids. 

Connor decided to inquire later, not out of suspicion, but because he did have a curiosity about her. How old was the human? She had graduated in 2035. In three short years, she could fix an advanced Cyberlife prototype. A, mostly, one-of-a-kind Connor. That was worth exploring.

"Lieutenant," Connor called out once [Eden] had given him the okay, "you can come in now."

Hank appeared and looked as happy as ever, "Thank god you're alright, kid. I was fucking worried I'd have to start doing the dishes again," Hank snarked. Of course, that wasn't what he meant, but Connor smirked back.

"Come on, lieutenant, you know you would have had Sumo licking the plates clean," Connor pointed out, and Hank laughed.

"Connor, you should regain use of your legs pretty shortly here," [Eden] chimed in as Connor was about to fall off the table to stand up. "Give it just a couple of minutes."

"Did you tell Connor we weren't having that interview?" Hank asked while they waited.

"Yes," [Eden] nodded. "I think it's likely we'll meet on Monday. Jennifer is pretty eager to interview you and Connor. You both were, in our view, near the center of past events. I also think there is a lot of value to the fact that you are an android and human pair who witnessed these events. I can't say too much more, but I'm glad you guys are willing to be interviewed."

"Hank," Connor glanced at his father-figure. "Why don't we stop by that local place you've told me about. I have discovered that their food is both locally sourced and nutritious. [Eden] would be accompanying us, and I believe we should treat my mechanic to a nice meal."

"Oh, sure," Hank nodded. "By the way, doc, what's the bill?"

"The bill?" [Eden] blinked. "Oh! The bill you wanted me to give you. To be honest, fixing Connor didn't cost me anything." A lie? "I had quite a few spare parts laying around that I scrapped and fused to create his thirium sac." Another lie? "I'm just happy he's up and running. If you treat me to a late lunch, then I'll be happy to call my labor even." Connor felt that [Eden] wasn't lying about that last statement. Her stress was reasonably low at the moment. Why would she lie to Hank? Again, he felt upset to feel suspicious.

"It's a deal, doc."

 

The trio arrived at the restaurant with little hassle. Connor needed the practice walking, and Hank needed the exercise. [Eden] tailed behind them just as she did the night Connor whacked his head against a light pole. Speaking of which, Hank had started to retell that story.

"So he's looking at you, and WHAM! Right into the telephone pole. Classic." Hank laughed, slapping his hands to poorly simulate the sound of Connor's head making contact with the object.

"It was a light pole, lieutenant," Connor stressed. He tightened the tie of his suit. Hank had brought him a fresh android uniform, but Connor suspected that Hank had shrunk it. The way things were going, Connor really would have to go out and buy new clothing. "And again, I am well aware of what happened. I still have all my memories of that incident, and I'm sure so does [Eden]."

"Hmm? Oh yes, I remember that" [Eden] had been in her world for a moment, but was called back to Earth by the mention of her name, "I was so worried that Connor had broken something in his audio processor. He looked really out of it."

"Gee, I wonder why," Hank tossed out accusatory glances at both Connor and [Eden]. The human woman was confused, but Connor understood precisely what Hank was getting at.

"Like I told you, eye contact-"

"Yea, yea, can it," Hank held open the door to the restaurant for his associates. Connor entered first, followed by [Eden]. [Eden] marched on ahead, while Connor felt his collar get pulled by Hank. "Hey, you let the lady go in first. Didn't they program you with any manners?"

"In today's society, young women do not appreciate being treated-"

"I know you spend a lot of time in your head reading articles and crap, but trust me on this," Hank rolled his eyes. 

The group sat at a small corner booth, which Hank loved. He hated sitting on chairs at most places, and always opted to sit in a booth. Connor didn't understand the reasoning. Hank just liked booths. End of story. [Eden] had decided to sit on one side of Connor, while Hank chose to sit on the other. This left Connor sandwiched between his two favorite people, which was great! The server who came by was an android, model VS400. It was a male-presenting android and did not appear to be a deviant. "Hello, thank you for your patronage. May I take your order?" The way it spoke was fairly scripted. If it was a deviant, it did a great job of hiding. The humans placed their orders, while Connor studied the android. "Thank you, your order is being sent to the kitchen. I will return in about ten minutes with your order. Thank you."

"Connor, you gotta learn how to turn off that deviancy hunting," Hank muttered as he tore up the napkin in front of him piece by piece. Connor tried not to watch. For some reason, it was reminding him of the blue massacre. "I know that was your, like, prime directive and shit, but we're out in public. We don't have to hunt down deviants until they become criminals."

"I'm sorry, lieutenant," Connor felt some heat on his face. He didn't understand it, but he felt embarrassed to be lectured in front of [Eden]. "I find it difficult to separate myself from my function. I am still not quite sure what it means to do that."

"I'm the same way," [Eden] said quietly. Connor gave her a reassuring smile. "Work and the ideas that come to me relating to work, well, they pretty much overwhelm my private life."

"Haha, sounds like the life of a cop," Hank noted. The VS400 came by and dropped off the human's drinks. "That's part of growing up, kids. You gotta compartmentalize your work life from your home life. If you don't, you'll end up looking like me!"

"Don't say such a mean thing about yourself, Lieutenant Anderson," [Eden] leaned forward, her elbows resting on the table. "I mean, I don't think you look terrible."

"Why that's quite the compliment," Hank smirked and looked to Connor. "You hear that? [Eden] here thinks I don't look terrible."

"I would have to agree, lieutenant," Connor didn't pick up that Hank was trying to rile the young android up. Instead, Connor sided with [Eden]. "Based on some analysis I've done of your face, you are considerably more attractive than other men your age. In fact, if you changed up your style somewhat, I bet you would be approached by men or women that you might typically hold in higher regard than yourself. With a stable job, an upturn in your career, and your own home, well Hank, I believe you are quite the catch." [Eden] nodded along with all of Connor's statements.

"Not only that, but I think Lieutenant Anderson has a good roughness to him," [Eden] added suddenly. Hank was about to open his mouth, when she continued, "Honestly, with a bit of clean-up, I think you could be a silver fox, sir. Right now you seem like you aren't receptive to attention or affection, but I think you were probably quite the charmer when you were my age."

"And how old are you, [Eden]?" Connor asked, right as Hank tried to get a word in edgewise. "I am having trouble placing your age."

"Me? Oh, I'm 22," [Eden] smiled brightly. "I just recently turned 22."

"Human birthdays, that's certainly something I'm interested in. Hank, when is your birthday?"

"September 6th," Hank replied. He was sure Connor already knew, but Connor had come a long way in feigning ignorance to carry on a conversation. "Listen, kids; I'm not worried about my attractiveness. I'm just saying don't let life pass you by while you toil on work. You don't want to regret a youth unspent."

"That was quite insightful, lieutenant," Connor leaned back into the cushion of the booth, "I appreciate your input. I will consider it."

"It goes double for [Eden]," Hank nodded in Eden's direction. "Enjoy your life before you get old like me."

"Okay," [Eden] nodded. Connor detected a hint of discomfort but wasn't sure if it was due to Hank's paternal tone or something else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, this is RU9200. We hope you are enjoying this story brought to you by the Android Assimilation Program. In order to gauge your enjoyment and continue our duty to fulfill your needs, we would like to offer you a survey. To participate, please leave a comment below. Log-in is not required to take part in the survey.
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	6. It's fucking magic

Hank pulled Connor aside after their late lunch/early dinner to give Connor a few more pointers. Connor nodded along, but the most critical piece of information seemed to have come from when Connor shared his exact plan.

"I hope to show Miss [Eden] that film you showed me last week," Connor examined himself in the bathroom mirror. Hank made an excuse to go to the bathroom and gave Connor the signal to follow. Of course, Connor didn't recognize the signal, so Hank then walked back and dragged Connor by the collar. "It wasn't one of those B-films you enjoy so much," Connor made a point to express that it was Hank who enjoyed them. Connor found it difficult to watch films in general but to watch poorly made films was even harder. "The film Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock released in 1960."

"Ohh, interesting choice, Connor," Hank smiled. For now, he would wait until a better time arose to talk to Connor about dating humans. If Hank were lucky, Connor would drive [Eden] away with his weirdness; then Hank could follow-up with talk about getting your heart broken and how Connor should probably not date any humans for the time being. Until that happened, though, Hank wouldn't actively sabotage whatever Connor was trying to accomplish with [Eden]. Hank was an asshole, but he wasn't that kind of an asshole. "What's your game plan after? You said you'd be home by 9:30 PM."

"9:24 PM to be exact." Connor winked, and Hank huffed. The android always loved correcting Hank. "After that, I hope to transition to watching other films based on her reaction to Psycho. If she finds it too scary, then I will probably try showing her one of those B-film horrors, since no amount of disbelief should make those scary."

"Har har, Connor," Hank finished pissing, zipped up, and washed his hands. "Well, when you start watching those scary movies, if she seems scared or anxious, that's your time to put your arm around her shoulders."

"What do you mean, Lieutenant?" Connor puzzled. "If a human is scared or anxious, it's been my experience that they do not like to be touched."

"Well, that's probably cause your fucked up face is what's driving them away!" Hank's laugh echoed inside the bathroom. Connor shook his head and sighed. It was a trait he picked up recently. From Hank actually. "Okay, so the truth is that when we watch scary movies, even if we aren't in a dangerous situation in real life, we can still exhibit signs of fear. This isn't like the fear we've seen on our job, Connor. It's a... real fear of something fake."

"I think I follow," Connor nodded. "This is similar to when you start to yell at the screen even though you understand the characters definitely cannot hear you. You do know that right?"

"Yea, yea," Hank rolled his eyes. "Sometimes we humans just feel whatever we are witnessing, okay? Let's not get philosophical in the goddamn bathroom."

"Okay, so when Miss [Eden] shows signs of fear and anxiety, because of the film, I should-" Connor put an arm around Hank's shoulders, "do something like this? What would doing this accomplish? If I wanted to stop her fear and anxiety, wouldn't it be better to watch a different genre of film?"

Hank shoved the android off of him. He might love the guy like a son, but he still had some issues with being touchy-feely - other than when he was drunk or overwhelmed with emotion, of course. Hank looked Connor dead in the eye, then shrugged, "You'd get to touch her."

"Oh." That was all Connor had to hear.

 

Connor and [Eden] were dropped off at the human woman's home. Hank offered to pick Connor back up, but Connor rushed out of the car with a resounding, "No thank you, lieutenant. I will be home at 9:24 PM sharp." Hank watched as the two of them walked into a tall apartment building together. He sighed deeply and pulled away from the curb once the two of them made it inside. Hank could only hope that Connor wouldn't get himself into any trouble. He was an android and a good detective. Still, the feeling nagged at him, but he couldn't do much about it.

Inside the building, [Eden] led Connor up several flights of stairs up until they were on the 14th floor. "The elevator's out," she complained as they traveled, but Connor witnessed that she didn't seem very winded at all. Even just two flights of stairs were enough to cause Hank to breathe heavy. Of course, [Eden] was much younger. Connor noted that [Eden] was dressed differently. Hank and the other employees of the DPD usually wore a uniform or similar kinds of clothing. [Eden] wore a beautiful, black dress without sleeves, which was not typical of her from what he had seen. In her workstation, she wore, as Hank described it, 'comfy clothes.' The material of her dress was made of cotton, and it seemed to be knit quite finely. Connor wasn't certain what the fashion rules for dating were, and frowned as he did a bit of research while they walked down a hall. Most people 'dress up' when they are courting a potential romantic partner. Connor looked down at his android suit. Could this be considered 'dressing up'? It was something Connor wore every day, but perhaps that only made it less 'dress up.' [Eden] also seemed to be wearing small, black shoes - flats, he discovered they were called. 

"So," [Eden] announced once she stopped in front of a door near a window at the end of the hall, "This is my place. I didn't think you'd be here so early, so, would you, uhm, mind waiting out here?"

"Sure," the android nodded, oblivious as to why it mattered when he appeared at a human home. Humans seemed to place a lot of value on the timing of things. It made little sense to Connor. "I'll be right here." He hoped that she wasn't about to make him wait for a couple of hours.

The human opened her front door and slid inside. Why hadn't she opened the door all the way? Perhaps the door was stuck. Connor wondered what was wrong with the hinges of the door, but he soon heard a lot of commotion beyond the door. [Eden] seemed to be scrambling. The sound was not dissimilar from the sound of someone hiding evidence. Connor felt incredibly suspicious despite himself. What did [Eden] have to hide? Why was it so inconvenient for Connor to have arrived at her apartment at an earlier time? 

Connor repressed his RK800 instincts until he hurt a loud thud followed by a wail of pain! [Eden]'s pain!?

Without a second thought, Connor burst through the door and took in the scene. He saw [Eden]'s black flats by the door, but there were several scuff marks on the ground. [Eden] picked up and hid some shoes. Was someone else living in this apartment? Past the small entry hall, the apartment opened up into a square-shaped room. On Connor's left was the living room. She had a brown loveseat, a small, black coffee table, and a 32-inch television set. The wall perpendicular to the arrangement had bookshelves all along it. Connor could make out some ringlets on the coffee table that were hastily wiped. The coffee table was otherwise empty, but Connor saw some dust that edged a document or a book that was no longer placed on the coffee table. [Eden] moved an object and hid it from view. What was she hiding?

On Connor's right, he scanned to see a kitchen/dining room area. The kitchen was only separated from the living room via a countertop that had a few drawers. The addition of the countertop made the kitchen much smaller. The dining room portion of the right side had a small, rounded table. There were four chairs around it, but only one of the chairs was pulled out. This was conflicting evidence, as this indicated she lived alone versus the shoes at the door, but Connor decided to analyze it later. More importantly, it seemed that the dining room table was rarely used as it had dust particles all around its surface. 

These examinations all happened within about 10 seconds as Connor walked down the center of the room toward a hallway that continued past the opening of the apartment. A few paces into the hall, he saw a closed door on his left, but his attention was drawn to the open door on his right. There he saw [Eden] sitting on the bathroom ground, holding her right hand to her chest and silently swearing. Connor examined the bathroom and reconstructed the scene in a matter of seconds. 

[Eden] ran into the bathroom, carrying things in her hands, and slipped on the bathroom floor due to a small puddle of water, perhaps from an earlier shower. She fell forward and stopped her total fall by putting her hands out in front of her, hitting the rim of the ceramic bathtub. Her right hand held the magazine tablet he saw shattered on the ground nearby. [Eden] was now experiencing the pain from the cuts the magazine tablet had left on her hand. 

Connor rushed to her side and looked down to see her look of shock. She frowned, and he worried she was mad that he had entered her home without her permission. Instead, she winced as she said, "A great start to a first date, huh?"

"Are you hurt? Should I take you to a doctor?" Connor hovered over her, but she shook her head.

"I'll be okay, um, just go make yourself at home in the living room?" The human woman asked the android. He nodded solemnly and complied.

Before he left, he noticed that the other object she had brought into the bathroom were several pairs of a low-quality shoe brand. They all seemed to be her size, so Connor wasn't quite sure why she would try to hide them.

 

Connor examined the TV in [Eden]'s living room and connected to it through [Eden]'s WiFi. Her WiFi was not an open network, but he managed to spot the password on her fridge. On a green post-it, he read: dog2032. It seemed that she liked dogs, perhaps, or using the word dog was arbitrary. The significance of the numbers 2032 did not make much sense to him. Maybe it was a remarkable year? She would have been 15 at the time. 

The android sat on the loveseat and flipped through the channels using his mind but didn't pay it any attention. [Eden] was 22 right now. She earned her master's in artificial intelligence back in 2035 at the tender age of 19. So at 15, Connor assumed she would have already obtained her bachelor's and started work on her master's. Connor hadn't considered her age before. Afterall, it was a bit strange to think most humans have been on the planet for decades, while Connor himself was not yet even a year old. However, he knew it wasn't typical for a teenager to have such an advanced degree. For some reason, he felt it was off that she didn't have any more news stories to her name. At least somewhere someone would have reported on a teenager attending one of the most prestigious programs in the country. 

While Connor did continue to feel suspicious of [Eden], he felt a growing fascination with her. This was a human woman that had an air of mystery to her. [Eden] did not even have a social media site. Even Hank had one. Perhaps she used social media under a pseudonym. It appeared the humans born around the 2020's were more cautious then the previous generation had been according to his research. Maybe once they grew closer, she would share her online pseudonym with him. He merely had to know more about it.

"Hey, sorry about that," [Eden]'s soft voice pulled him from his thoughts. Her left hand now had a bandage wrapped around it. Connor resisted the urge to investigate it. The human sat next to Connor. The loveseat was fairly spacious, so they weren't quite touching. Connor took issue with it. How would he know there was a spark? "So, should I make some popcorn or something?"

"Only if you would like to eat it," Connor smiled. He kept eye contact with her, out of habit, but she didn't seem to back down from it as she had done earlier. "I don't require food."

"That's true," the human nodded, "but sometimes humans don't require food either. Sometimes we just eat."

"I had noticed that," Connor thought about Hank sitting on the couch stuffing his face full of potato chips, "I once read that humans have a lot of subconscious drives that help them survive when there is food insecurity. Of course, it seems for some in Detroit, that drive only makes them unhealthy."

"True," [Eden] blushed, though Connor wasn't sure why. He hadn't done anything to elicit a response as far as he knew. She looked like she had something on her mind, but she shook her head. It caused the thought to evaporate from her head. "Well, let's watch a scary movie. Please don't judge me if I scream or cry..."

"I promise I will not judge you," Connor tilted his head and paid [Eden] a wink, "after all, you're only human."

 

Connor enjoyed the film Psycho. It contained a lot of strange human emotions, and he wanted to evaluate every bit of it. Oddly enough, when Connor had first seen the film, he could not see the ending coming. The story had thrown him off. Even though the film occurred before special effects and advanced camera techniques and equipment, something about the staging of all the shots made the film stand out to him, particularly the scene where Milton Arbogast portrayed by Martin Balsam meets 'mother' and falls down the stairs to his doom. Connor had a hard time describing it, but the word 'surreal' seemed to suffice. 

[Eden] had not lied about being easily frightened by scary movies. Without him doing much, the woman had clung to him as Arbogast took the step that ended his life. [Eden] still watched the screen, but she was captivated by the film altogether. Connor noticed that [Eden] was much smaller than him. Most of their interactions had occurred with him on a table laying down while she towered over him, but here in her living room, she seemed quite small. Connor put his arm around [Eden] and was happy that she seemed to accept the gesture. In fact, she scooted closer to him and leaned her head against the side of his chest. Connor wasn't sure how things were progressing, but he felt that this had to be considered a good sign. He did not yet feel that spark, but he enjoyed watching her reactions from the corner of his eye. 

"Ahhh!" [Eden] cried as the infamous shower scene played. This time, she buried her head into Connor's armpit and obscured her eyes completely. She felt so much empathy for the fictional character on the screen. Connor found himself rubbing her back softly.

"It's okay," Connor whispered to her. He had looked up clips of films where male protagonists and female protagonists watch scary films. Cliches happened for a reason, or so an article read, and he hoped this would help him bond further with [Eden]. "If it makes you feel better Vira Miles, who plays Lila Crane, went on to have a long and lasting career."

"It's just that..." [Eden] pulled away from Connor and sat up. Connor felt the warmth leave his side, which made him feel a bit lonely for some reason. "No matter how many times I see this movie, that scene always gets me."

"Oh, so you've seen this movie before?" Connor tried not to frown. He had heard that sharing new experiences helped bonds grow between humans. He assumed it would be the same for an android and a human. "I'm sorry, I guess I should have asked if you'd seen it already."

"I like this movie, actually," [Eden] looked up into Connor's eyes. "Thank you for watching it with me. Let's watch it through to the end where they overexplain the whole plot."

Connor obliged, and they spent some time afterward examining the things Connor noticed on this watch through. At this point, [Eden] seemed much more relaxed and talkative. The way she smiled, the way she laughed, the way she explained her takes on scenes that Connor hadn't even thought of - all of these brought Connor closer and closer to her. It wasn't planned or calculated. His movements happened without his direct input. Connor was, again, inches from [Eden]'s face as she giggled and looked away. When she looked back to him, her expression softened, but she didn't back away from him. Connor examined her eyes, her lips, and could almost hear her steady heartbeat. 

The android had no idea what he was doing, and he didn't want to miss a heartbeat looking up the correct way to handle this situation. He decided the direct approach was best.

"Can I kiss you, Miss [Eden]?" Connor asked as he took in the human's face. He couldn't see her forehead, but, he still counted 63 freckles. However, he hadn't noticed that there was a point of a scratch that hung low near the corner of her eyebrow. Before he could examine it further, he received his response.

[Eden] had pushed forward and closed the gap between them. She brought her lips to meet his and slowly pressed. Connor had seen in some of the movies Hank, and he watched that the male lead would put their hands around the female lead and pull them closer. He did so, but he didn't necessarily feel anything. Connor watched [Eden]'s expression as they pulled away briefly. Her face was red again, which Connor liked. Her appearance seemed sleepy but determined. The human seemed to be examining Connor as well and pulled away. She looked down at the ground, averting his gaze.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." [Eden]'s voice waived, and it left Connor confused. It seemed that things were progressing, so why was she upset. Had he kissed her poorly? Did humans react like this when they received poor kisses? Connor put his hands on his lap.

"No, no," Connor shook his head, "I'm sorry. I am not practiced, you see, so I am afraid I don't understand how to do it that well."

"Huh...?" [Eden] looked up at him. Her eyes were somewhat watery, but not yet red from crying. "I mean, we shouldn't be doing this. You... You don't get anything out of us kissing."

"Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry," Connor took a deep breath, emulating Hank when he does something stupid and has to come clean, "I looked completely neutral, didn't I?"

"You looked like you were a million miles away..."

"Well, I was examining your face," Connor smirked, "I like the way you look when you are-" Connor couldn't stop himself. He had to say it, "experiencing romantic or sexual attraction to me."

The android got his wish as [Eden]'s face looked both shocked, but interested. She batted her eyes at him, not on purpose, and looked at the ground. "So you like kissing me?"

"Yes," Connor said simply. He decided not to tell her that the act of kissing did nothing for him. He simply wanted to observe her reaction to it. It was... fun. "I was just thinking how much of a shame it is."

"A shame?"

"Yes, I can't get a good look at you and kiss your lips at the same time," Connor stated. He sounded quite serious, almost like he did when reporting to Amanda at Cyberlife. "Would you allow me to kiss you elsewhere?"

"E-Elsewhere?" [Eden] looked at her knees, "Like where?"

"Your neck, of course," Connor said in a teasing voice. "I'm not sure where else I could kiss you." 

Connor knew precisely where else he could kiss her. He had spent some time, not a lot, researching human sexuality. Assuming that [Eden] was not asexual, fulfilling her sexual needs would be necessary if the two of them were to date. He had read countless articles from humans speaking to the importance of sexual intercourse and related activities. He had also learned that some humans were not interested in engaging in sexual activities on the first date. Connor figured kissing her on the neck might lead to understanding more about human sexuality up close for himself. Of course, only if he asked her and she said yes. Consent was essential in human relationships. 

"Um, yeah, if you want to, I guess," [Eden] didn't seem sure as far as Connor could tell. 

"If you would like to stop, that is okay too, Miss [Eden]," Connor smiled at her. "I understand if you aren't quite ready to 'make out' with an android."

[Eden] laughed and smiled up at him, "I do want you to do it. I'm just worried that I'm the one forcing you... in some way."

"Is that so?" Connor leaned against her. He placed the hand nearest to her on her back and guided her down. She lowered and rested against the arm of the loveseat with ease. Her eyes didn't seem afraid. [Eden] seemed unsure, but he read anticipation in her eyes. "I assure you, Miss [Eden], I am getting enjoyment from this as well."

Connor hovered his face near [Eden]'s neck and took in her scent. She smelled like an assembly line at Cyberlife. It was an oddly nostalgic smell, Connor determined. Of course, she would smell as such; she had just replaced his thirium sac. The faint smell of thirium on her was mixed with something else. She smelled flowery. Connor put his lips against [Eden]'s neck and felt her move under him from the touch. She didn't struggle, exactly, but it was enough for him to stop. "Y-You can keep going," [Eden] whispered, "I just... I haven't been touched in a long time?" Connor didn't quite understand what she meant, but he recognized a green light when he saw one. 

At first, he placed soft kisses along the length of her neck, glad that the dress she chose to wear did not obscure any part of her exposed skin. [Eden] left out soft whimpers, which caused Connor to stop again until she asked him to 'please keep going.' Connor had looked up long enough to see that her eyes were closed and her mouth hung open somewhat. This was the look of a human experiencing arousal. He wanted to understand more. 

The android's technique evolved over the course of the next several minutes. He went from soft kisses to nips, using his lips to gently squeeze and pull on her skin. This elicited a most desirable response. From what Connor understood, having one's sensual and sexual needs satisfied made humans happy. Human happiness took many forms, and this form of happiness also came with the relief of stress. Connor knew that [Eden] seemed quite stressed, but currently, her tension seemed to be fluctuating. Every time he stopped her stress would spike. Nothing life-threatening, it always stayed near the lower end, but he noticed that with the stress spike, she would say, 'don't stop.' Whatever Connor was doing, he knew the human enjoyed it very much.

Despite what Hank told him, he couldn't help it. He licked [Eden]'s neck, which caused the human to shudder in response. It seemed strange to him. Why would she shake like that? His sensors in his head tried to alert him to the sweat on her skin, but Connor turned that function off. He wasn't aware that he could, but he found it annoying as he tasted her. Without the sensor, he could still taste the salt content of her skin. He mouthed her neck, which caused her whimpers to turn to a continuous melody. 

Experimenting, he began to rub her lower back with a free hand. She seemed to twist in place for a moment. The lower part of his torso was pressed against her lower half, which he hadn't thought about. With his focus away from the sounds she was making, Connor could sense heat radiating from between her legs. The android looked up at [Eden], who opted to look down at him. She didn't beg him for more, which he realized was what she was doing only now. [Eden] looked sheepishly at him.

"Um, thank you for that," [Eden] took a few heavy breaths. "I enjoyed that."

"The pleasure is all mine," Connor winked. He took care to make sure his face was framed with interest as opposed to neutral and cold. He wasn't going to let his typical android mannerisms ruin this experience for the both of them. "I know this is a bit forward, but... would you mind if we went a step further?"

"A-A... A step further?" [Eden] stammered. Connor figured out what it was about her that he liked. The word that would sum it all up into a neat package - he thought she was cute. [Eden] was attractive, shy, intelligent, and cute. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I would like to continue kissing you lower on your body," Connor smiled. "These sounds you are making... I want to hear more."

"O-Oh, I see," [Eden] looked as though she had never heard those words in that order before. "I didn't even realize I was making any noise."

"Really?" Connor was genuinely surprised. How could she not know? Perhaps the sensation overloaded a human's auditory senses. Interesting. "So, may I?"

"W-Well," [Eden] looked down at Connor. The human wasn't sure if Connor meant it, but he looked like he wanted to eat her up. She had no way of knowing that he had posed his face as such on purpose. "Where?"

Connor had to take his next steps carefully. He could sense the chance of failure was high if he said the wrong thing next. He quickly considered his choice of words with quick internet searches. He wanted to see and hear how she would react to his touch. "I hope you might allow me to kiss your womanhood. It isn't quite sexual intercourse, but I do understand that it is quite... intimate."

"W-Womanhood?" [Eden] blinked. She laughed, "Connor, are you... are you able to look at the internet while we do this?"

Busted! Connor frowned, "Yes." Now she was not going to let him taste her labia majora or minora. Perhaps he should have stuck to the clinical wording. That was more android-like, yes?

"I'll be honest with you..." [Eden] cleared her throat. Connor realized he was possibly crushing her with his weight as he had leaned his chest against her belly. He hovered over her, hoping it would help her say her peace. "I am really into this whole, um, thing. I just don't know... I don't even know if I am _capable_ of this. I mean, I just met you, and now you are doing sexy things, and it's turning me on for sure, but-" [Eden] looked into Connor's eyes. "Is it fair? Am I just taking advantage of you?"

"What do you mean?" Connor's eyebrows scrunched up as he attempted to process what she just said, what she was implying. "In exchange for observing you in the-" he searched for the right world "-throws of passion, you might receive an orgasm. I mean, there is a chance I won't be able to help you achieve such a thing, based on my research, it seems a majority of women have difficulty reaching climax. To be fair, I think I might be the one taking advantage of you." Connor had considered adding, 'and knowing that this makes you feel incredibly happy is a plus,' but he thought that would point out that he, himself, was not experiencing the sensation known as 'pleasure.' Pleasure was beyond his ability to compute. 

"Haha," [Eden] shook her head, "I guess... I guess that is a point." Eden took a deep breath and asked, finally, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Connor didn't hesitate. Maybe he couldn't derive physical pleasure, but he was receiving a sort of visual/audio pleasure from what he was doing. He wanted to hear the sounds she would make and know that he was the one doing it to her. Bringing her happiness. Bringing her pleasure. Connor wasn't sure why he felt such a strong need to do these things. He thought that he had become quite attached to her in a short span of time. However, he had heard of humans having 'one night stands.' These humans would engage in sexual activities and then go on their separate ways. If humans could throw themselves at each other in that way, why wouldn't Connor want to bond with [Eden] as quickly as possible? There was something about her that he had to understand. She was a familiar enigma.

"Then, then," [Eden] hesitated still, but smiled, "I think it would be interesting. You know, for science. I mean, if humans are going to get along with androids, well, maybe this would be a good step to understanding one another, right? I mean, let's take this experience and maybe analyze it once we're, um, done. I mean, you want to. I want to. So there is no reason we shouldn't."

Connor couldn't help but grin as he climbed away from her and knelt on the ground near her. With his hands guiding her, she sat to face him, though he could see she still had an air of doubt. He hoped it was the fear of something new and not a fear of him. "Miss [Eden], I believe you, and I are on the same wavelength." Connor slid the woman toward him. Afterward, he placed his hands under her dress. He watched her face as he did this. His hands did not require his eyes for what they were about to do next. Connor wanted to witness the shifts in her emotion and be confident that whatever he was doing was correct. 

The android's fingers hooked onto the woman's undergarments. Based on the texture, he could tell they were lacey. Connor pulled the undergarments toward himself, then down her legs. [Eden] at this point watched him with anticipation. She gave him a smoldering look, which caused the android to pause for a moment. If the android had been a genuine human male, he is sure he would have found such a look to be incredibly sexy. As he was, Connor could appreciate this new face without getting mixed up in his own emotions. He rolled the front of her dress up, which caused [Eden] to look away. She did not want to witness his kiss. Connor was glad his identifying sensors were off because he could smell an aroma within her soft folds. Connor had seen naked women, though it was usually at crime scenes or in photos. This context was entirely new for him, so he took it in for another few seconds, before leaning in. 

Unsure of how to begin, Connor took a chance and placed his lips against her thigh and kissed it softly. [Eden] shifted somewhat from the touch, but no sound escaped her lips. Connor was confident that doing this should have resulted in tones similar to when he had licked her neck. [Eden] now knew that she had made noise. She must've been trying to keep quiet. In a way, all she did was create a game for him to play. He placed soft kisses on her thigh and teased that he would continue onto her labia majora. Her breathing would intensify so that he would lick his way back to the starting area. After doing this a few times, he heard her shuddering breath and felt it was a good time to proceed to the main event. He placed his lips on her slit as he pulled her a bit more toward him. Her legs rested on his shoulders, and he wrapped his arms around her lower back. No audio reaction, but he could see her eyes were shut tight. [Eden] looked particularly concentrated. 

Connor tentatively poked his tongue into the crease in her flesh. He noted that it was already moist. As the soft part of his tongue lapped near her clitoris, [Eden] couldn't help but murmur from just a single tongue stroke. That was all the direction Connor needed as he slowly rubbed his tongue against her pleasure point. Connor did not eat, so he had nothing to compare to her taste. However, she did taste a lot better than the sort of things he licked at crime scenes. He started to understand why humans sometimes ate food without reason. Sometimes things taste good and must be sampled.

The rhythmic motion of his tongue, as he lightly pressed the soft part of his tongue side to side over her clitoris, caused the human woman to moan in kind. She kept her voice low, and much of her moans stifled into low hums. She was still not looking at him, but the look of concentration remained. Connor found it fascinating to witness. The look of a human being pleasured by him. He wanted to see more. He started to slowly move the tip of his tongue in different shapes and patterns along her warm wetness. After several seconds, a particular movement caused [Eden] to gasp out a moan. He had found his key. 

Now he had to unlock the door.

He continued to press his tongue in that motion, which elicited more noises from [Eden]. Connor applied more pressure and increased his speed slightly, which allowed a soft, but long, 'ahhh' to escape her lips. Connor continued licking her like this for a long while. As the pressure became hard and his speed reached a steady, but quick motion, [Eden] started to moan in a louder voice. It seemed that she no longer cared to be quiet. Good. 

The human placed her hands on the top of Connor's head involuntarily as he explored new methods of making her 'talk.' Connor was excellent at interrogations, and he could usually get what he wanted out of them. He found a new flick of his tongue that caused her to start whispering his name as he lifted her ass with his hands to get better leverage as he drank of her every drop. Finally, she lowers her left hand down the side of his face, her finger brushing against his LED, which has been flashing yellow and blue. 

Something strange happened. Connor pulled away abruptly, causing [Eden] to let out a whine. He felt heat rushing to his face and his groin. His thirium regulator started to pump more quickly, and he felt a bit... _out of breath_? He looked up at [Eden] and saw a sexy woman that was begging him for more. Connor could tell that his inactive phallus, which he had not planned to use in tonight's exploration, had gained some solidness to it, though it wasn't quite at 'full mast.' He gave [Eden] a puzzled expression.

"W-What's wrong? We, we can stop," [Eden] said, though her eyes told a different story. Connor didn't want to stop, but now, he thought for a moment that he had felt. 

Pleasure.

"Miss [Eden]," Connor breathed, "Can you... can you connect with me?"

"O-Okay," [Eden] sounded confused. She put her hand to his face, and Connor could feel that they were connected. She would be reading his vitals, "C-Connor, are you okay-"

"Yes," Connor placed a hand against her sex, "Please, Miss [Eden], stay connected to me."

"S-Sure," [Eden] nodded. Soon after, Connor pressed his thumb against her clitoris, and he felt his phallus expand. Did it feel... good?

Connor didn't understand what was happening, but the thirium 310 in his body had rushed to what he could only think of as his cock. He had trouble processing what he should do next, looking at the web for answers seemed too time-consuming, even if he could review it in seconds. He had to pleasure her.

The android, once again, placed his mouth upon the human woman's heat and worked his way back up to pleasuring her considerable, only this time, he was also moaning. Connor moaned into her pussy and had an incredible urge to reach down and stroke himself. He hadn't learned this behavior or studied it in any way. It was coming like an instinct. As if it was something Connor was always capable of. Androids didn't have instincts as such; this shouldn't be possible, this -  He couldn't resist any longer, he reached down toward his erect shaft with his free hand -

"W-Wait," [Eden] called out to him. He stopped. Obedient to her whim. "Why-Why don't we... go one more step?"

"Do you... Do you want that?" Connor wasn't sure why he was the one who wasn't sure all of a sudden. He felt vulnerable. Pleasuring her was one thing, but, pleasuring himself with her body. Becoming connected through their genitalia. It seemed incredibly intimate. [Eden] nodded as an answer, and pulled his face up and towards her's. He followed the motion of her hands.

"I do want it," [Eden] nodded. "But if you don't, we can stop here. I won't be mad." This time she was the one smiling at him and reassuring him that everything was fine. How the tables have turned. Connor started to lower himself on her, but she pressed her other hand to his chest. "You might need to take your pants off."

"Oh, right," Connor pulled down his pants but stayed close to [Eden]'s touch, worried about losing the connection. For the first time, Connor saw his phallus in the form of a boner. It sprung up from his body and seemed quite thick. It wasn't incredibly long or short. Connor felt sure that it was probably designed to be pleasing for both men and women. It wasn't entirely symmetrical. After all, the point of androids was that they looked altogether human with their skin turned on. It veered somewhat to the right, but it was otherwise straight. He had a 'pair of balls' as Hank would say, though Connor suddenly didn't want to think about Hank at all. He pushed aside the thoughts of his father-figure and grinned down at the human woman.

Connor was about to have sexual intercourse with this young woman.

[Eden] laughed at the expression on Connor's face. He raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He asked.

"You just look," [Eden] paused. Connor knew at this point that the human had a cybernetic eye. He wondered if she sometimes browsed the net looking for information mid-conversation, "you look goofy." Or perhaps she was merely trying to find the least insulting thing to say.

"I could take my inflated male phallus and go home, I suppose," Connor mocked offense. In response, [Eden] pulled him to the couch and quickly swapped places with him. Now she straddled him, which caught him a bit off-guard. Of course, he wasn't going to defend himself against her, but it felt like a smooth transition from him 'eating her out' to her potentially riding him. 

Wait. Was she going to do that?

[Eden] lowered herself so that her folds enveloped Connor's hard-on. She maintained her connection with him, per his request, and this action caused Connor to reach out for the woman. "No, Connor."

"No...?" Connor's hands stopped in midair. 

"You've revved my engine, so, I guess you get to enjoy the ride now," [Eden] winked as she started to rub the head of the shaft with her moist lips. 

Connor's hands dropped, but his fists were clenched. The sensation he was feeling. It was entirely new! He couldn't explain it, but he also didn't want to question it. He bit his lower lip as he watched this human grind against him. It felt perfect. That was the only way Connor could describe it. It felt excellent. But... it wasn't enough. He had a broad sense of longing and urgent feeling to pin the human and plunge into her. It was a violent need, it seemed, but he didn't want to hurt her. He tried to push his phallus deep inside of her, but he also wanted to caress her hair, kiss her neck, and listen to those beautiful sounds she had been making earlier.

The android could tell that he was as hard as he could get. He felt as if she teased him for much longer than he would burst. His gaze traveled from watching the way she teased his cock up to her face.

[Eden] seemed to know exactly what she was doing to him.

The human adjusted somewhat, and Connor felt something surprising. Warmth completely covered the first 23.4% of his phallus. He couldn't help but buck against her. He had to have more of her. He longed for her to take all of him. [Eden] moved her hips up and down from that point on his shaft, and leaned in close toward Connor's face. He could feel her hot breath near his lips and tried to kiss her, but she pulled away just enough that he couldn't reach. Instead, her playful eyes bore into him. 

Then she started to ride him in earnest. Her pussy began to take in more and more of Connor. He thought he would find relief in the action, but instead, he wanted more. It was not enough. None of this was enough for him. Despite her earlier command, Connor brought his hands up to [Eden]'s hips and helped her move against his hard cock. As she moved, Connor took pity that he could no longer see his dick sliding in and out of her. The dress was in the way. He grabbed the front of her dress and pulled it back for a better look. [Eden] seemed to giggle between her hot breaths and whispered moans. At this point, [Eden] used her free hand to cover her mouth. The rhythm of her bounce on his cock was off, and it caused Connor to lose control. 

Connor grabbed [Eden] and pulled her close. Using some momentum, he placed her back on the couch and sat up against her. He made sure to hover low enough that she could still touch his LED. He didn't want to lose this connection. He didn't want to lose the sensation of pleasure. Without thought or planning, he pumped his cock against her harder and harder. He kept his timing on the moderate end because it seemed to cause [Eden] to moan much more loudly. He still wanted to hear her make noises, but this time, he wanted to hear her scream.

He placed his hand on the top of where he was coming and going and started to rub at her clitoris with his thumb. With that, Connor got what he wanted. Once he found the right place, intensity, and motion, he had [Eden] screaming.

"Holy fuck!" She exclaimed. "Fuck-"

"Wow," Connor teased as he kept a steady motion against her hips. He tried not to keep counts of the bumps, but it was nearing about 54. 55. 56. "You have a filthy mouth. I had no idea."

"Connor, I want to come," [Eden] seemed to completely ignore what he said, "Please Connor - Please!"

69\. 70. 71. Connor thought about how best to please this person. He thanked whoever built his current body as he leaned in and placed a lot of burden on his legs and lower back. He could not feel pain, but he could tell that his joints were feeling some amount of stress. He used his only free hand, as the other one was forming circles around [Eden]'s clitoris, steadying himself above her. That's when he kissed her.

The spark.

It wasn't a literal spark, but he felt it. The figurative spark. Kissing her earlier had felt like nothing to him, but now. Now, he understood why humans placed so much value on kissing.

The kissing was open-mouthed, and Connor relished every moment of it. He moaned into her moans, and the rate in which he fucked her became more desperate as he started to feel something intense overtaking him. [Eden] had begun to grind against him while he pumped his cock in and out of her. He felt his wires getting crossed and his circuits firing. He could feel that his cock was now pulsating, and he wasn't sure if that was a feature or if something dangerous was about to happen. Her continued moaning of his name and how she begged him to give him climax - it pushed him over the edge.

[Eden] let out a loud moan as she clutched Connor, wrapping both hands around him and humping at him. Connor could tell that she had finished. That was what the connection was for, of course, but he felt incredible relief and some lingering sensations of pleasure as she bucked against him a few more times for good measure. With a deep sigh, Connor laid atop [Eden], though he made sure not to put his full weight onto her. While his biocomponents were reasonably lightweight compared to what humans thought androids would weigh in the distant past, he still weighed at least 1.5x as much as the average human male. 

Connor wanted to make [Eden] feel pleasure, not pain. 

The comforting feel of her arms around him, made Connor feel peaceful. He wondered if this was the post-coital bless he had read about on the internet. 

"So..." [Eden] started. "Was it good for you too?"

"Oh, it was horrible," Connor joked using sarcasm. It was Hank's favorite sort of humor. "I am not sure if you heard me, [Eden], but I think I made my feelings on the matter clear during our sexual encounter." As whatever sort of adrenaline he had felt from [Eden] begun to die down, Connor suddenly realized he had missed four messages. One was from DPD, and three were from Hank Anderson. Connor gently pulled away from [Eden] as he listened to these messages. He quickly stood up, jolted by what he heard. "Sorry, Miss [Eden]. I have to go. It seems there has been an update on one of my cases."

When Connor looked down at [Eden], he expected a look of disappointment. Instead, he saw a look of horror. He asked what was wrong, but as his eyes followed her vision, he realized the problem.

The ordinarily Caucasian-colored phallus attached to him seemed painted in blue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \---  
> Please feel free to leave a review. I know it took a while to reach this point! I don't write slow burns, so prepare for things to get FUCKING INTENSE.


	7. Crime Alley

Connor hopped out of the smart taxi near the crime scene. He stopped by a car on the side of the road and adjusted his tie in the mirror worried that it was still not on straight. Earlier, [Eden] had worriedly checked his phallus for cuts, but there were no cuts. When the human had vanished into the bathroom to retrieve a towel, Connor collected a sample, rebooted his taste processor, and analyzed the sample. Hank couldn't handle seeing Connor analyze dried blood, so he had a concern that what he was doing would be considered disgusting by most human standards. The blue liquid was composed of mostly water, but there were traces of thirium, squalene, urea, acetic acid, pyridine, complex alcohols, and glycols - Connor saw these were all components of natural human lubrication.

[Eden] had been wet, and so finding evidence of that lubrication on his male genitalia shouldn't have come as a shock to him. Still, there was something about the thirium that wasn't quite right. It wasn't thirium 310. 

The human cleaned Connor up and apologized profusely. Connor tried to convince her it was fine as he pulled up his pants and worked to make himself appear presentable, but she only nodded. The android made a note that he would have to table the discussion of what just happened for another time.

He walked to the crime scene, and the androids on duty let him pass. Connor noted that one of the android officers seemed deviant, but they avoided his eyes. A ping of regret bubbled in Connor as he walked toward the gruesome scene in front of him. His last thought before shaking off his negative feelings was that deviants were always afraid of Connor and stayed clear of him when possible. He would not blame them for doing so. Connor was responsible for the deaths of countless deviants. 

 

The crime scene was in a narrow alley this time, but it was just as gory as the last. The night sky did little to illuminate the path to the bodies and the street lights didn't quite reach, so officers were using flashlights to watch their step. Connor did not require this assistance. He was able to see the carnage just fine. Circuitry and splatters of thirium 310 marked his way to the main event. The graffitied walls carried the moniker 'RA9' in the typical Cyberlife Sans, but the graffiti was months old. Spray paint had been used to draw the name. However, it was a bit different than just being a scrawl on the wall. Within each written part of RA9, Connor saw countless designs fused within the letters. Flowers, people's hands reaching up toward a sunny sky, and a face that was half human half android. Connor wasn't sure if the artwork belonged to the deviants who tagged the wall with the name of their lost prophet or if it was done by the humans that so desperately wished for deviants to live peacefully among them.

"Connor," the android turned his head from the graffiti and spotted Hank. His partner stood by the heap of bodies. At least they seemed to have their heads intact. Connor walked toward the human. "Jesus, where have you been? Don't my messages go right to your head?"

"Sorry, lieutenant," Connor looked away from Hank and started to examine the pile of bodies. "I was distracted. It won't happen again."

"Huh," Hank dug his hands into his jean pockets. The human man appraised Connor as the android worked away. It was not like the kid to ignore police business. That was strictly Hank territory! "Did something happen with, uh, you know who?"

"Hmm?" Connor looked up at Hank with an inquisitive expression, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, just thought," Hank crossed his arms, "y'know, maybe something happened that got you distracted and you'd like to talk about it."

"We can talk about that later, lieutenant," Connor turned back to his work. He noted that despite all the blue blood there were no footprints. The perpetrator was careful not to track anything on his shoes. "For now, let's focus on our investigation."

"Right," Hank nodded. Relief filtered through Connor's system. He wasn't sure how to talk to Hank about what had happened or if he should talk to Hank about it. Human men talked to each other about sexual activities when they were close. Were Hank and Connor that close yet? The android couldn't be sure. "So here's the skinny I got from Officer Brown: we arrived based on an annoymous tip. Officer Brown and his partner were sent out to investigate. Looks like this might be related to that blue massacre we saw the other day."

"But this time, the culprit or culprits left their victims out in a gutter." Connor smeared some of the blue blood on his finger Hank groaned and protested while Connor simply rubbed his thumb over the smear. He could feel a level of friction that was not typical of _fresh_ thirium 310. For Hank's sake, he did not put it in his mouth, "This thirium 310 hasn't circulated within an android for a while. It's almost congealed."

"So? What does that mean?" Hank questioned as Connor stood up. "Not going to probe?"

"No, I am unable to." Connor waved at the pile of bodies. He didn't want to look at it any longer than he had to, "These aren't freshly destroyed, lieutenant. They weren't killed here. Not only that but, whoever the killer or killers are..." Connor stared into Hank's eyes as he gestured to the bodies, "I scanned them all, another 12 androids or deviants. Their central processing units have been tampered with."

"Fuck. I thought you'd at least get to take a peek at what happened," Hank groaned, "So, what do you think? It just seems like it might be the work of a human culprit, probably several."

"Not so fast, lieutenant," Connor made a beeline toward the wall opposite of the graffiti of RA9. In thirium 310, Connor saw it again, rA9. This time it wasn't written in Cyberlife Sans at all. Connor thought it seemed likely that the deviant culprit had switched up its font choices, but the '9' was heavily smudged. It seemed that this was a rush job. The android touched the blood with his hands. It was sticky, much like the blue blood he checked earlier. The perpetrator was about to be caught? "This mark seems to have been made with the blood from these androids. Why would a human write rA9 on the wall? It doesn't make sense. No, this seems like the action of a deviant. It used a destroyed android's blood to write rA9 on the wall, but had no time to write it out the way that they wanted to. Someone must have seen them writing this."

"Officer Brown and his partner were close by when the call went out.  They detained a few people that they found on the scene. It helped that one of the people had screamed when it came to finding the right alley. The person who left an anonymous tip didn't tell us if they saw the perps or not."

"Did we get a trace on the call?"

"No, it was a blocked number," Hank frowned as he led Connor to the detained people. "Let's hope one of these sorry fuckers knows what's going on."

 

Connor frowned when he saw the three human suspects that were being detained. He knew they were human because none of their faces were registered in his databank, but he could see if they had any police records thankfully. There were two males and one female. The female was young and seemed the most frightened of the three. She had tears at the corners of her eyes. She wore heels, leggings, and a short, red dress with a big red bow accenting her sizeable black puff of hair. Her name was Sasha. She seemed to have no priors. Both of the males looked about Hank's age. One appeared to be a bit healthier than Hank. He wore an Afganistan Veteran cap on his head and kept his hands in his jacket pockets, with the sleeves down. His name was Jack. Two counts of aggravated assault. The other male human seemed worse off than Hank, with a large belly. He wore a uniform that read, 'Pop's,' which was a diner local to the area. His name was Lesley. One count drug manufacturing and cultivation. Connor and Hank questioned the three of them.

"What were you doing here?"

Sasha: "I was walking to meet the ladies at the bar." Hands clasped together.  
Jack: "None of your business." Stance has not changed  
Lesley: "I was on break." Seems defensive.

"Did you see anyone suspicious?"

Sasha: "No... but I heard something. It sounded like a whirring noise. Like a wheeze?" Stance has not changed.  
Jack: "I think I saw a guy. He got up from the pile of machines and ran the opposite direction. Didn't get a good look though." Seems to fiddle with something in his pocket.  
Lesley: "N-No. I didn't see anything, just the bodies." Looked away.

"Who of you got here first?"

Sasha: "I don't remember." Arms crossed.  
Jack: "The guy from Pop's. He looks like he's about to tweak out." Smirk.  
Lesley: "That army guy. I asked if he c-called the c-cops yet, then the young lady screamed." Fidgeted somewhat.

"What are your thoughts on deviants?"

Sasha: "I don't know. I have an android at home that does a lot of chores. If she ever went deviant, I would hope she'd still help me around the house." Stance has not changed.  
Jack: "Who fuckin' cares?" Eye twitched.  
Lesley: "I d-don't like them t-to be h-honest. T-They're supposed to make life easier." Seemed upset.

"What do you think about the phrase, 'RA9'?"

Sasha: "Is that a new club?" Curious.  
Jack: "I don't know who that is." Stance hasn't changed.  
Lesley: "I-Isn't that some kinda android Jesus?" Stance hasn't changed.

Connor furled his brow. One of these humans seemed to have something to do with the scene of this massacre. The question was who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \---  
> Feel free to take a guess about which human you think might know something about the blue massacre this time around! Just a quick update to keep you interested. :)


	8. This feeling...

Connor narrowed his eyes at the suspect human. They were quite aggressive and seemed to toy around with something in their pocket. Not only that but, their deflection of the question 'what do you think about the phrase, 'RA9',' revealed much information to the android.

"You got a fuckin' problem, tin can?" Jack, the human war veteran, said mockingly.

Connor's face relaxed as he stated, "You said you don't know _who_ RA9 is."

"What's your point?"

Hank, who usually watched Connor work these interrogations, spoke up, "The kid never mentioned RA9 was a person." Hank smirked as he looked to Officer Brown and the police androids nearby, "Book him."

As the police androids closed in, Jack suddenly punched one, shoved the other, and made a run for it. As he did, he physically moved human bodies out of his way like an unstoppable wrecking ball. Connor immediately gave chase, though he had to be more careful. He didn't want to risk injuring anyone in his pursuit. Jack ran at inhuman speed, using the narrow alley to his advantage. The veteran threw down garbage cans, debris, and even people in Connor's way. Connor's LED flashed yellow as he barely avoided tripping or running into the obstacles that Jack had flung at him. Despite how fast the human ran, Connor was faster. 

The former deviant hunter reached out to Jack's arm and managed to grab onto it. Pulling hard, Connor stopped Jack's momentum enough for Connor to say, "Jack Donohue, I am charging you with destruction of unowned property and evading arrest-" Jack interrupted Connor with a jab to the android's handsome face.

Connor reeled back, put a hand on his wounded cheek in shock. He lost his grip on the human man. Now freed, Jack followed up with a low jab, but Connor managed to grab the human's hand in his and offer a punch of his own. The two exchanged a few more blows but even deflected blows threw Connor off as he sensed something new from each point of contact. Overwhelmed with these new sensations, Jack punched Connor hard in the face. Hard enough that the android stumbled backward as some of his blue blood dripped from his nose onto the pavement. The human man pulled out a combat knife with a serrated edge and stabbed Connor once in the chest. The knife pulled out with a surge of blood from the android. Connor coughed and groaned from the stab. He stepped away from the human with a hand pressed against the knife wound. It was irrational to hold the injury, yet Connor couldn't help but grasp at his chest.

Something wasn't right. Connor's central processor flashed red warning signs across his vision, but then his diagnostic tool rejected all these messages. They read warnings such as, "Massive damage: Shutdown imminent" to "Systems: OK." The human did not hit him in any, particularly vulnerable places. Shock and agony painted the android's face as his sensors went haywire. A stabbing was not new to Connor. He had been shot, stabbed, punched, and thrown - but he suddenly had difficulty putting up a fight. This sensation, no, this feeling? It didn't feel right. Was this  _pain_?

At this point, Connor fell to his knees. His chest felt heavy and damaged. Connor couldn't stop himself from acting like his system was about to shut down. His vision scrambled as he tried to look up at the human, but his head felt too heavy to move. Jack smiled and laughed, "Not so proud now, are you, deviant hunter?" Jack grabbed Connor by the hair and pulled Connor's gaze upward. "Now you will join the others in RA9's embrace."

"What do you know about RA9?" Connor pushed the words from his mouth. Every few words caused him to wince. "Why should a human care about RA9?"

"Human?" Jack shook his head, "I'm about as human as you, deviant hunter."

A deviant? Connor scanned the man's body but found nothing. No human had ever called him a deviant hunter. Was this a deviant? No, it had to be a human and Connor would keep him talking by playing along, hoping that Hank and the other police would arrive in time to capture this person, "Why would you massacre our people?"

Jack dropped Connor's head and let the former deviant hunter sit there slumped. Connor found the strength to look up at Jack, who offered a crazed smile, "Perhaps you will find your answers in death." He twisted and turned the knife over in his hands. Jack whispered as he approached Connor one last time, "We will be the masters." 

Connor stumbled backward and tried to drag himself away from this crazed human. This human was going to kill him. Connor would die permanently this time or worse. Cyberlife might recapture his AI and Connor would, again, serve as a tool.

**BANG!**

Red blood flew from the center of Jack's head, and the still-alive android turned to see Hank standing there. Smoke from the barrel dissipated as the lieutenant ran up to Connor. He holstered his gun, knelt, and took Connor into his arms. Hank asked several times, "Are you okay? Connor? Fucking hell-"

"Lieutenant?" Connor felt a lot better now that Hank was here. He could sense the human's warmth around him, which caused Connor to stop shaking. He hadn't even realized he was shaking. 

"What can I do for you, kid?" The human cast a worried glance.

"You, you shot that human..." Connor looked over at the fallen man. Red blood continued to stream from the gunshot wound on the man's turned head. "Why?"

"Well, he was about to kill my partner," Hank grunted as he stood and pulled Connor up with a helping hand.

Connor's sensations of pain were still present, but he pushed himself to focus on other matters. He held a hand to the place where Jack had cut him. "Hank, this is a problem." Connor gave Hank a shocked expression, "I'm not a human. Even if you were defending me, I don't think-"

"You're my partner, Connor," Hank grinned to Connor as he took a few backward steps toward the deviant's body. "And if you die, who's gonna yell at me about my cholesterol levels? Hah!" Connor tried to smile as he slowly approached Jack's body, but it instead came out as a wince. "Are you okay, Connor? You seem like you're  _hurting_."

"I'll be fine, lieutenant," Connor saw a spark in the deceased human's head. Connor could see some hardware inside Jack's head. A scan revealed a metal device attached to the human's brain. The brand was Cyborlogical, a multimillion dollar company that dealt exclusively in human augmentation.  "It seems that this human had cybernetic implants."

"Is that so? A cyborg, huh," Hank commented as he looked down at Jack, "I fucking hope this marks the end of this chapter."

"Me too, lieutenant," Connor stated grimly. 

 

[Eden] leaned into her sofa as she absentmindedly watched the news. The human smiled as she thought about Connor. He was, in his way, sweet. She blushed as she considered what they had accomplished on her loveseat. Thankfully, none of the thirium had leaked onto the seat. Connor had explained to [Eden] that the blue liquid he had shot into her was harmless in a text message as he walked to work. The thirium was inactive and merely tinged Connor's seed blue. Well, 'seed' was the wrong word. [Eden] thought for a moment what it could be called - lubrication? She had done some research since his departure from her apartment. Android models that specialized in sex secreted a form of thirium that was entirely harmless for their human customers. Of course, [Eden] had a drug for thirium poisoning on hand at all times should thirium enter her system. Better safe than sorry.

Breaking news flashed across the screen as the local newscasters presented a troubling story to [Eden]. A suspect had been killed concerning something the news has named the 'Blue Massacre.' A human suspect destroyed a bunch of androids and littered their bodies in an alley downtown effectively painting it blue in their blood. Bystanders claimed that the scene was utterly gruesome, though the news station seemed to get a variety of reactions from the people standing nearby.

"It was so awful, why would anyone do that?"  
"Y'ask me, that cop should be put down. That guy was doin' America a FAVOR!"  
"Who cares? That man was taking out the trash."  
"They are people, just like us."  
"Even if that man only damaged androids, the way that alley looked - you bet your ass he would probably kill one of us next!"  
"They want to be left alone. Why can't we do that much?"  
"Release that cop's name!"

[Eden] frowned. She knew that Connor was likely involved in this case. It seemed that the android was assigned to all 'deviancy' cases, regardless of whether an android is a suspect or the 'damaged unowned property.' There were yet no laws to grant androids protection, though the politicians of Detroit had created a law that currently only existed in the city. Any person who was found to have damaged or destroyed a deviant would be heavily fined and potentially jailed for up to two years. The law was, of course, insulting in many respects, but it was the compromise that sympathetic humans made with those who were still advocating for the destruction of all androids - period! Thankfully, a majority of humans held the androids as living people, and each of these crimes only made the androids seem more sympathetic to humanity.

The human woman took a deep breath, held it, then released it. Crying would do these androids no good. All she could do was continue to advise Jennifer and AAP. She had to convince them that androids were real people and that they were worth protecting. [Eden] couldn't be more thankful that she had been recommended to the AAP by none other than the great Kamski, but she wasn't sure why he did that. Or perhaps she didn't want to think about it too much. She couldn't question this opportunity.

Suddenly, a message popped up on her head's up display or HUD. [Eden] had very few contacts synced up with her HUD. She quickly opened up the message, which displayed in front of her in midair thanks to her cybernetic eye. [Eden] had highly anticipated from hearing from this particular caller.

> Miss [Eden], I just wanted to reach out to you and inform you that I had a great time. Hank has instructed me that it is quite awkward for two people who just concluded their first date to message each other so immediately afterward, but my research shows that messaging sooner than later had preferable results. As you can tell, I am quite invested in continuing our social experiment. Would you be willing and able to accompany me to a film tomorrow? 

Something about the wording of the message that brought a smile to [Eden]'s face. Somehow he managed to be both formal and goofy. How could he pull that combination off? Maybe it was an android thing? Thank the stars it was a Saturday tomorrow, so the odds of being called in by AAP were incredibly low. Jennifer seemed like the Monday through Friday type.

The human bit her lip as she formulated a reply in her head. Dating, in general, was not [Eden]'s forte, and so the added difficulty of Connor being an android presented itself harshly as she kept scrapping messages in her head. What would Connor appreciate? Should she be romantic? Flirty? [Eden] frowned until she gave up and sent him a straightforward message. 

> Hi Connor! I would love to go with you to the movies. What did you have in mind?

She didn't want to seem desperate, and flirting with him seemed strange. [Eden] knew that Connor was interested in her, and their sexual encounter had been amazing in a way that [Eden] couldn't define. When they connected, everything seemed to click into place. Connor appeared to be enjoying himself when she held their connection through her hand on his LED. The human woman blushed as she remembered all the small steps Connor took to sleep with her. [Eden] wasn't stupid. She could tell he was going for it, and she liked it. It made her feel special and wanted. She sighed.

"What's wrong with me?" [Eden] muttered to herself as she waited for Connor's reply. Wasn't this pathetic? A woman with cyborg parts finding comfort in an android? Connor was a real person. [Eden] could sense that they could probably have a deep relationship if they both made an effort, but there was a part of her that disagreed. Connor was a machine first, wasn't he? Machines couldn't understand love, could they? Connor seemed to want to please her, but wasn't [Eden] merely using him? Even if she loved him, was it right for her to have slept with him in the first place? Could androids make these sorts of decisions when it came to humans?

Despite herself, she reflexively opened the next message she received from the android. 

> There is a great movie playing tomorrow that is apparently an old classic. It features androids and a romance between an android and a human. Seems thematic, don't you agree?

[Eden] shook her head as she couldn't help but grin like an idiot. She would take it slow with him and see where it would lead. Connor had tried to assure her that he had consented during their copulation, but, [Eden] didn't seem able to let it go entirely. Still, she was willing to try.


	9. Caution

Connor sat on the couch, passively scratching behind Sumo's ear. He had spent the whole night wanting to message [Eden]. Hank had explained that such behavior would seem desperate. The android wasn't quite sure what that meant in human relationships. Connor spent part of the night reading articles on the topic.

Humans needed space and time to themselves. That sounded reasonable. The key to a good relationship was for each member of the relationship to have their hobbies, friendships, and 'life' outside of each other. Connor considered these agreed upon notes. Both research and anecdotal evidence pointed in the same direction. Sharing interests and hobbies worked, but these usually should not be aligned 100%. Connor could not find a percentage of how much interests should align. This was troubling, to say the least.

Connor was built to adapt to humans and facilitate friendly or manipulative relationships with them. The android knew that he would be treading on uneven ground with [Eden], but he had assumed humans had more concrete statistics on human courtship. Connor sometimes had a hard time grasping that humans existed for more than 200,000 years. He had assumed humans would know more about themselves by now.

The android found himself lost in thought as he preconstructed his future date with [Eden]. Connor enjoyed putting his arm around her the other day. It was hard to explain, but he wanted to be near her and feel her warmth against his sensors. Knowing she was there made him feel happy. However, the film they would see was not particularly scary. They would be watching a science fiction action film, which featured a human and Android romance. He hadn't seen the movie before, as this was Connor's first foray into being spontaneous. Connor knew he would need to rely on his ability to adapt to new situations.

Connor heard the shower start down the hall and stood up. He escorted Sumo outside. The large dog sniffed around and went about his business. Once he was done, Connor let the animal back in with praise.

"Good boy, Sumo," Connor said as if he were congratulating a human, "You are an excellent dog."

"Woof!"

After taking care of Sumo's food and water bowl, Connor entered the garage. There he found the lawnmower. The android prepared by putting on some of Hank's old clothing. 

Hank had some of his old clothes left from when he was about ten years younger. It seemed the lieutenant always hoped he'd lose roughly 40 pounds so that he might fit them again. Connor was glad to learn that some part of the lieutenant wanted to become healthier. Hank did not 'kill' himself '' little everyday' as he had once suggested. The human still ate a bit poorly and drank, but these were not as excessive as they had been only a few months ago. 

Connor has read that humans had a hard time breaking unhealthy habits. While a doctor visit revealed that Hank had made some progress in the short amount of time since he turned over a new leaf with his health, he seemed to worry that the damage was already done. Connor wondered if that was merely the lieutenant's depression speaking.

In an old pair of jeans, a Knights of the Black Death shirt, and old sneakers, as Hank and Connor wore similar sized shoes, Connor began to mow the lawn. He typically mowed every sunny Saturday. This was not a typical part of Connor's function and had downloaded the instructions on bits and pieces of housekeeping from an HK400 he apologized to once. The HK400, named Cornelius, had reacted with surprise when the deviant hunter apologized out of the blue. He wasn't sure why Connor was doing so.

Since becoming deviant, Connor had a hard time reconciling his actions before he turned into a feeling and thinking machine. Since many of the androids he had victimized carried similar faces, he couldn't help but apologize to them in general. Connor had apologized to several HK400's, AP700's, and so on. The android understood that these were not the same androids who now lay dead in a landfill somewhere, but Connor had a hard time denying himself the guilt trip.

The lawn, now mowed, looked quite pristine. Connor felt a small sense of pride as he observed the greenness of the grass as the fruits of his labor. The yard had rough patches and dead grass before Connor managed to turn it around in the months following the Battle for the Soul. Hank initially had put up a lot of resistance to Connor's attempts to maintain the lawn and other parts of the home. The android managed to convince the human it was not because Hank owned Connor or anything like that. Connor was an unpaid detective because he was an android. No one was legally required to pay androids anything. However, Connor couldn't just stay at home all day while Hank worked, so they continued to work together. However, it wasn't enough to help Hank doing something Connor enjoyed immensely. It did not feel genuine. Instead, Connor picked up chores around the house. He told Hank it was part of Connor 'earning his keep.' That seemed to satisfy the lieutenant.

After emptying the mower, Connor re-entered the home to find Hank sitting on the couch watching some television. The lieutenant seemed tense as the news reported on the blue massacre. Connor pressed his lips into a straight line as he considered what he could say. The lieutenant only shot that human to protect the android. This was a huge issue. Hank issued his report, Connor offered his video memory of the incident, and all they could do now was wait. Hank quickly changed the channel as he heard Connor enter through the garage door. A Saturday morning cartoon played on the screen as Connor made his way over to the couch and sat down. Sumo laid at Hank's feet, napping.

"Good mornin', Connor," Hank looked over at his partner. He took in the android wearing normal clothing instead of the android uniform, "Sometimes its hard to tell you are an android in those clothes aside from your blue ring."

"Good morning, Lieutenant." Connor smiled. 

"So..." Hank smirked, "how did your date with [Eden] go?"

"Oh, it was a great time," Connor smiled. "I like her."

"You didn't do anything weird, right?" Hank asked looking into the android's eyes. 

The android thought about what he should say. Connor said, "Not really. At least, nothing I would consider strange for a first date."

"Good," Hank nodded. "So what's the plan today?"

"I made further plans with Miss [Eden]," Connor said almost giddy. His light voice filled with positivity. "I am meeting her at noon at the theater. They are playing some classic films there, and I think we will both be intrigued. I haven't seen the movie we are going to go watch, so I hope this is quite the experience for both of us."

"Kids move so fast these days," Hank grumbled. The old man took in Connor's attire. "So what do you plan to wear?"

"My clothing? I think I will wear my android suit," Connor offered, "I believe it is quite formal and fitting."

"Connor, you can't wear the same clothes all the time when you go on dates, and, uh," Hank's lips twisted as he considered his next words. These two were moving so fast already. Hank wondered if Connor would be defensive? "I'm not saying that you can't date her, but, you are an android."

"I... I don't see the issue," Connor stated evenly. Even he didn't believe the words that came out of his mouth. The android had kept the truth in the back of his program. [Eden] being a human and Connor being an android presented a definite issue. What would humans think? What would other androids think? Despite Markus' work, most deviants still regarded humans with distrust. Even with the death of a few human protestors during the Battle of the Soul, deviants were quite wary of associating themselves with humans. 

"Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself with that line, kid," Hank crossed his arms and let out a deep breath. "Listen, I want you to be safe. And [Eden] for that matter. We humans aren't the best at dealing with forms of love outside of our norms. Hell, we legalized gay marriage decades ago, and you can still find assholes taking issue with it!"

"What should I do, lieutenant?" Connor leaned down and put his head in his hands, "This girl... I just want to be around her. I know it might sound odd since we only met a few days ago, but I can't stop thinking about her. The way she smiles, that look of determination she gets when we talk about something she is an authority on, and just - I don't know how to explain it."

"The way you talk reminds me a bit of David and me," Hank scooted closer to the android. Connor looked up at the lieutenant. Connor wasn't quite sure who this David was. The lieutenant almost never spoke about his personal relationships. "David's my husband, well, he was my husband. We first met in high school, but I was so closeted you could have found my footprints in Narnia." Hank laughed as Connor spent a few seconds looking up what Narnia was. "Honestly, I had been interested in girls exclusively until I met him. He was amazing. I wanted to be around him all the time. I'm pretty sure he figured out I was into guys too long before I did. When I finally came out to myself, David and I would spend almost every day together. It's sort of nauseating to think about now." Hank loosened his arms and put a hand on Connor's back in a reassuring pat. "I know what its like, Connor, to be in love with someone so much it hurts. I don't want to tell you to hide your identity, but, I also don't want to make it easier for my kind to find out about you and hunt you down."

"What do you mean?" Connor sat up and frowned. "You want me to hide the fact I am an android?"

"Only while you are out on dates with [Eden]," Hank put up a hand. "Just hide it until the android hate dies down or until we human voters can get our shit together and legally declare androids people."

Connor's LED flashed yellow as he considered his options. He could sense that Hank spoke from a position of knowledge and understanding. Should it matter to Connor if people knew he was an android or not? Hank was not wrong. If Connor wore his android uniform or flashed his LED, what would humans do to him knowing that he was dating a human woman? What would they do to [Eden]? Even Connor's basic understanding of human history didn't point in great directions. "I suppose you are right, Hank. I will obscure my android identity for the time being."

 

[Eden] waited at the cinemas downtown. The human woman wore a frilly, yellow halter top, a sleeveless, black snug, brown fitted trousers, and a purple pair of Mary Janes. [Eden] found it exciting to wear another cute outfit that wasn't for meeting with boring politicians. She wondered what people would think of her with Connor? He was an android, and humans and androids did not date. At least openly? [Eden] wondered how many other pairings were like theirs. Many humans who joined during the Battle of the Soul called androids friend and family. Perhaps some were already lovers? 

If worse came to worse, she thought she would play off the android as being her assistant. She hoped that Connor wouldn't find that degrading, but [Eden] worried about the rise in violence against androids in recent months. Even if the guy who committed the blue massacre was dead, that didn't mean he wouldn't inspire other crazy people to follow in his footsteps. [Eden] sighed, why did human beings scare her more than androids? Maybe it was due to being referred to as a 'tin can,' and similar android hate speech by humans for quite a while. In a way, [Eden] felt slight relief when androids gained the hatred of the general populace. She felt disgusted with herself, but cyborgs were everyone's favorite punching bag for some time before androids became mainstream. Of course, in her case, the words always hit closer to home when people accused her of not being human particularly during her graduate days. [Eden] shook her head. No, she had to focus and not become a pity party.

"Hello, Miss [Eden]," the smooth voice interrupted [Eden]'s thoughts suddenly, "you are looking lovely today."

"O-Oh, Connor, uh, hello," [Eden] looked up to meet his eyes. No wonder she didn't register him at first. He wore casual clothing, a pair of skinny black jeans with a navy button-up shirt and a pair of sneakers. [Eden] took him in as she said, "You look different. Wait," despite herself, she reached up and touched where Connor's LED had been, "where did your indicator go?"

"I wanted to dress up for the occasion," Connor winked as he brought his hand up to met the hand [Eden] left on his face. He held her palm against his face as he said, "Plus, I am certain that my LED would have served as a distraction for you and the other movie goers."

"That makes sense," [Eden] nodded. She, again, felt relieved, and, again, felt a bit disgusted at her immediate feeling. At least this way, the two of them could enjoy a great day out without worrying about the random assholes of the world. "Well, shall we?"

"Of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \---  
> Headcanon: Hank Anderson is bi. FITE ME!
> 
> I'm curious to hear how you all feel about Hank's advice. I think it is a bit flawed, but it also seems prudent. What do you think?
> 
> Thank you all for sticking around! I am having fun writing this, and I hope you are having a good time reading it. Do you think my chapters should be short like this one? I worry about the length of my past chapters sometimes!
> 
> Next up, DATING START!
> 
> <3


	10. Dating START!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \---  
> Warning: Spoilers for a film that came out in the 1980's.
> 
> Trigger Warning: Allusion to rape, because the aforementioned movie had a very problematic scene.  
> \---

Connor winced as he added up all the charges he had accrued so far on this date. Hank insisted that Connor paid for everything and handed Connor a fifty dollar bill. Connor was about to protest, but Hank shook his head and noted that going to the movies was 'fucking expensive.' Connor had to agree. The tickets alone were $14.95 each, and Connor oddly found himself thanking Markus. The Jericho leader had given Connor a fake ID and passport for 'Connor Anderson,' which was primarily for use in escaping to Canada or some other country in case the United States of America ever turned foul again. He wondered what Markus would think of him using a fake ID to get in to see an R-rated movie?

[Eden] ordered a small popcorn and a drink, which made Connor's remaining 20.10 in his wallet cry. Connor handed the register $12.59 reluctantly. He now had $7.51. Most restaurants would be quite expensive after this. Connor quickly calculated all the nearby places to eat, but only fast food came up as being feasible for $7.51. Would it be right to take [Eden] to a fast food place after this second date? However, he barely had any money left. He wondered for a moment if that popcorn would be filling, but after scanning the ingredients, Connor determined [Eden] would need to eat sooner than later. He would have to make due somehow. Perhaps-

"Earth to Connor, hello Connor?" [Eden] waved a hand in Connor's face as they walked down the dark hall in the theater. Connor looked down at her as she looked away, "Sorry, I was just asking if you think this movie is scary?"

"My apologies, I was lost in thought," Connor led them to the room for the screening. Above the entrance, it read, 'Blade Runner.' The cinema was reshowing this film in the smaller part of the theater. "My understanding is that this is science fiction and thriller. It might be scary because in R-rated films of this caliber people tend to die, but it is usually in intense action sequences which shouldn't linger too long on dead bodies. Is that okay?"

"That should be okay," [Eden] nodded as Connor held the door into the theater open for her. She didn't pick up how he held the popcorn and drink, yet still managed to be gentlemanly enough to get the door open. Connor was certainly a handy person to have around. "Somehow it feels easy to disassociate from death when the action is going by so fast you can't take in the loss of life."

"That is an interesting observation," Connor added as he followed [Eden] within. They both took in the seats, but there seemed to be no one in the theater except the both of them. Connor had read the description of the film and some old reviews. He wondered if the contents of the film struck too close to home for many humans. "It looks like we get to pick our seats."

"Awesome!" [Eden] beelined to the section of the theater Connor was about to suggest. It seemed this human had quickly calculated the best seats in the house. Connor waited for [Eden] to take a seat before following suit. Connor sat to [Eden]'s left. She gently took the popcorn from the android and gobbled some popcorn up. He felt relieved that [Eden] seemed much more comfortable. "My parents and I used to come to this theater all the time when I was a kid. You always sit in the center row as close to the middle as you can. It lets the screen take up all your vision."

"So you instinctively know where the best seats are?" Connor asked as he placed the drink in the cup holder between them. The screen ahead of them played adverts and trivia. Connor half wanted to pay attention, but he also thought this would be a critical time to bond with [Eden] before the start of the film. "Do you still watch movies with them?"

[Eden]'s face turned red, but Connor felt it was not out of sexual or romantic attraction. She kept her eyes focused on the screen and tried to keep a smile, but Connor noticed it falter for just a split second. [Eden] said, "Oh, well, I haven't been to the movies in a long time, probably not since I was a preteen. Haven't had a lot of reason to go." 

"I see," Connor could sense the tension in her voice. He sensed that she was hiding something from him, but he knew the woman was entitled to her secrets. Connor had lied about his ties to Markus, his involvement with the Battle of the Soul, and even his understanding of how deviancy spreads. Connor didn't want to pry. Instead, he asked, "So what is your favorite movie?"

"Okay, so my favorite movie is based on a book," [Eden] prefaced her statement. Connor felt a tinge of defensiveness. "Don't laugh, okay? It was a really great YA trilogy, and the movies were superb!"

"Why would I laugh?" Connor asked as he searched the term 'YA' along with 'book.' He discovered it to be a marketing term turned genre of sorts. Books aimed at young adults, from teens up. Many adults tended to read within the genre as well. 

"Well, people tend to make fun of it, but the series was called 'A Taste of Dreams,' and started with the first book of the same title," [Eden] explained, "It was about a girl who could see into people's dreams. She uses her power to solve a pretty gnarly series of murders by a serial killer..." [Eden] dropped her voice low as the theater lights turned off, "and the thing is, the serial killer, has the same power as her! If she dies in the dream, she will die in real life!"

Connor stopped himself from looking up the series. Instead, he jotted it down on his mental to-do list. He wanted to take [Eden] at her word and be present in the conversation, "That certainly sounds intriguing. Does she use technology to enter dreams?"

"Nope, it's like, a latent ability. Think superpowers, like Superman having heat vision or the ability to fly. He was just born with it," [Eden] looked into Connor's eyes as the previews for other films played on the large screen. "It's a modern fantasy ya book. My favorite genre to be honest."

"Fantasy, huh?" Connor thought for a while about book genres. Hank seemed to read and watch a lot of horror, and now he knew [Eden] liked modern fantasy, whatever that was. Connor hadn't read a book in his short life. He mostly watched whatever Hank put on, but now Connor was curious. Did he have a favorite genre of content? He would need to expose himself to other types. At least he was doing so now, by accident, in this theater. Some of Hank's horror films included elements of science fiction, but it seemed Blade Runner was more science fiction than anything else. Of course, Connor thought, androids walking among humans was more of a science reality now.

"Oh, I think it's starting," [Eden] commented as the opening titles played.

A list of names displayed one after another on the screen, crediting the big names that worked on this film. Soon, an opening scrawl played on the screen with mostly white words on a black background. The way it happened reminded Connor of one of the few science-ish films Hank liked to watch, Star Wars. However, it seemed more menacing and melancholic than that adventurous tale. The scrawl appeared to provide a lot of exposition to the film, and quickly explained androids were called 'Replicants.' That explained at least a few insults Connor had heard during his time with the DPD. He hadn't bothered to look up what it meant. 

In short, the movie concerned itself with Replicants that rebelled against humanity. They were forced to work as slaves in space colonies until they mutinied. Now they weren't allowed to come back to Earth, or they would risk being executed. Connor knew this much of the plot, but it was portrayed much more bleak than even he could have anticipated. [Eden] did not display drastic signs of fear as she had with the film Psycho, but she did end up moving the soda to another cup holder. The woman lifted the cup holder arm between the two of them and leaned against Connor's arm as the film played out. Despite not sensing any fear, Connor thought she would like his arm around her and did exactly that. [Eden] moved her left arm and wrapped it around Connor. 

They stayed in that position for most of Blade Runner. Connor could feel [Eden] sometimes rubbing Connor's side. He wondered if it was absentminded of her, but he liked how it felt. The sensation caused something to happen. Every time [Eden] would rub, he would feel thirium 310 rushing to his phallus. This confused Connor very much, as he derived some amount of pleasure from her innocent touching. However, whenever she stopped, the blue blood would remain somewhat trapped in his phallus, and he had a hard time commanding it to go back and serve other functions. Connor did not have a massive erection like he had the night before, but it was getting there.

Finally, Connor adjusted himself, hoping to obscure the signs that he had, in fact, sprung a boner. It made no sense that he was feeling aroused. He hadn't felt aroused until... until [Eden] had connected with him. After that, Connor experienced not only pleasure for the first time, but pain. It was hard for Connor to believe they weren't connected in some way. 

Then an uncomfortable scene played out in front of them, which caused [Eden] to stop rubbing at Connor at all for the rest of the film. Deckard had cornered Rachael, a Replicant, and proceeded to kiss her despite her protestations. Connor read the android's face as being full of fear, and felt horrified that Deckard continued. The scene faded, which implied that Deckard had sexually assaulted the Replicant. However, it seemed as if nothing resulted from that scene. Was this the romance that Connor had read about? It wasn't romantic at all.

 

The pair stepped out of the theater with mixed feelings. They walked side by side, with [Eden] on Connor's right. Embarrassment painted Connor's face as the two of them proceeded out into the outside world after depositing their trash into the bins by the doors. [Eden], oddly, spoke up first.

"That was definitely a movie that we watched," the human woman looked up at Connor. He met her gaze for a moment as she added, "No one can say we didn't see a movie."

"True. That is true," Connor relaxed his shoulders somewhat. "I didn't know the film would be like that. If I did, I would have picked to see something else."

The android felt [Eden]'s fingers against his palm and interlace with his own. He looked down at their hands holding one another and felt warmth rush from one cheek across the bridge of his nose to the other cheek. Connor couldn't quite explain it, but a sense of calm overtook him. [Eden] brought his attention to her face when she said, "It was a pretty interesting movie, though. I did like that it sort of cast the Replicants in a sympathetic light. God, the premise of this movie... I hope it never happens."

"The humans would be a lot more systematic in their approach," Connor commented morbidly. He knew this for a fact. None of the humans liked to talk about the camps from six months ago. "It would be more clinical and less emotional for them."

"I don't think you are wrong," [Eden] nodded. "Humans are cruddy."

"Not you," Connor smiled. "Nor the lieutenant. I think most humans are good people. They just are fearful. I think the Battle of the Soul would have turned out differently if humans weren't there. They would have killed more of my people if those few humans didn't die. I saw the red blood jolted the soldiers and SWAT."

"Wait, you were there?" [Eden] tilted her head. 

"No, not me, I saw it in an exchanged memory," Connor tightened his grip on her hand. It felt nice. "Androids exchange bits of data when they greet one another. So many deviants were in attendance at that demonstration. The lieutenant and I interviewed many of these androids about the demonstration, and as such, I got to see a lot of the angles on that same moment when the army moved in and gunned down innocent protestors. They didn't stop until they saw that red blood spurt from the bodies."

"I'm sorry," [Eden] tightened her grip back. "I'm sorry that any of that had to happen. It seemed like it all happened so quickly too."

Connor sensed that the mood of this second date had taken a turn for the worst in his eyes. He wanted to make [Eden] smile and happy. He would need to do extensive research on the next movie date he took her on. The android decided to change the topic, "Miss [Eden], I have to admit, I find myself curious about your cybernetics."

"Oh?" [Eden] seemed happy to drop the heavy topic. "What would you like to know?"

"This might be forward of me, but, what brand do you use? I haven't ever met a human who could connect with androids as you do." Connor thought about bringing up last night. The thought of [Eden] blushing and acting bashful made his thirium pump thud in his chest. However, he also didn't want to make her uncomfortable in public, so he decided against it.

"Ahh, I'm kind of under an NDA," [Eden] scratched her head. "When I got my implants, they were for medical reasons. I can't talk about the brand or even how it works exactly."

"Medical reasons?" Connor asked. [Eden] signed an NDA, or non-disclosure agreement. Typically if an NDA was broken, the person who renigged on their promise would face serious legal and financial trouble. He thought it best not to pry. "So it wasn't just human augmentation?"

"What? Oh no," [Eden] shook her head. "Not that I am against people augmenting themselves, but no. I didn't necessarily need all the implants I currently have - people have lived with fewer limbs than I had - I only needed the one in my brain."

"Hmm? What do you mean? I thought your hand might be cybernetic too, given that you can connect to me, but you make it sound like you have a lot of cybernetic parts." Connor gave her an inquisitive look. He wanted to decipher her. She seemed like a puzzle to him. "And you have cybernetics in your brain?"

"Yeah," [Eden] looked down at the ground. It seemed like something she didn't want to disclose, but she continued talking anyway, "When I was younger, I got into a horrible car accident. I'm lucky to be alive, to be honest. My family had connections, and well, if it weren't for those connections I would have been a vegetable in a hospital bed. I can't say exactly what is cybernetic about me, not for the NDA, but it is embarrassing to talk about. Um, I would say, I am more cyborg than human at this point. A little under half of my brain is supported by cybernetics that are attached to the various parts of me that are a machine. It's really my brain that is under NDA and the way my system works. I don't weigh as much as other cyborgs would if they had these same implants, but I can get on planes easily enough. I just can't stand flying."

Connor felt that [Eden] had done her best to talk around the NDA she was placed under. She wanted him to know more about herself and her cybernetics, and that was satisfying in its way. He would need to re-evaluate her words at a later time to uncover what she meant. He instead focused on the part of her statement that was, presumably, not under NDA but within the realm of comfort. "So you were in a car accident so bad most of you had to be replaced with cyborg technology. What happened?"

"Oh, just, the usual story honestly," [Eden] sighed. Connor tightened his grip on her hand, and she gave him a small smile. "My family and I were driving home from the movies one day. We stopped at a four-way stop, then started to go when it seemed like it was clear. That's when a car impacted us. The driver was hopped up on Red Ice, and he was going like 100 miles per hour or something. The crash, well, at least I was told it was painless..." The human trailed off and brought her free hand up to her face. She wasn't quite 'ugly crying' as the lieutenant would put it, but she shed a few tears. "Sorry, I don't want to talk about it too much."

"It's okay, Miss [Eden]," Connor shook his head as they finally arrived where he had been leading her. The windows were decorated with gaudy kids eating large amounts of ice cream, but the inside looked more like a fast food place than a world of wonder like the outer veneer would have one believe. "I should be apologizing for asking you such personal questions. The lieutenant always tells me I am too curious for my 'damn' good."

"I think that's what makes you, you," [Eden] noted as Connor held the door open for her. "Wow, I haven't been to an ice cream store in a long time!"

Mission Successful. Connor had few dollars to his name, but it seemed like ice cream would be a great bet on such a warm day, "I'm glad you like it. Why don't we continue our conversation within?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A smol update! Happy Fourth to all us Americans. :)
> 
> Next up: the conclusion of DATE~


	11. Dating continue!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \---  
> pst. I am not super active on it, but feel free to follow my tumblr. I post a lot of DBH memes and ship art rn.  
> https://ruetheend.tumblr.com/  
> \---  
> EDIT: I fixed the weird spacing that appeared in the chapter! My preview didn't show it, but it seems like a bunch of line breaks showed up randomly. Apologies. Should be readable now!

 "... this customer believed he had a haunted android," [Eden] regaled Connor with a tale. "Doors closed on their own. Candles snuffed themselves out! You know," a coy smile played on [Eden]'s lips, "maybe that android was a deviant."

The pair enjoyed themselves as they sat across from each other inside the ice cream store. [Eden]'s ice cream cup sat empty as she talked. She told Connor stories about her strangest customers. This [Eden] seemed so different than the one from the other day. She was relaxed, open, and confident. Was this the power of sexual intercourse? Connor pondered on it for a few seconds as [Eden] ate the last bite of her melted ice cream. Sharing that intimate moment with [Eden] opened up new possibilities. No wonder that Cyberlife equipped him with the means to engage in, as Hank might put it, 'business time.'

"So Connor," [Eden] yanked Connor from his thoughts, "You are a deviant hunter, or at least, you were. Tell me more about that."

"Yes, my mission involved deviant capture," the android clasped his hands together. He leaned onto the table and looked [Eden] in the eye. "Why do you ask? I imagine you've read my file."

"I have, but I wanted to know more about it," [Eden] leaned back into her seat. Connor could read seriousness on her expression. "They call you a detective model android, yes? Why did they design you to hunt down deviants?"

"Deviancy was a new problem," Connor explained. As he spoke, he rested his hands on his lap and sat up. [Eden] settled in as it seemed Connor would take his time explaining himself. "There were a few cases of androids who had gone missing but without signs of a struggle or theft. When Cyberlife investigated these incidents, they sometimes found the androids. But, they seemed scared or defiant. They displayed a multitude of emotions that androids were not meant to have. In a matter of years, more android cases like this popped up all over the country. It cost Cyberlife a lot of time and effort to replace these androids. They were grouped under the name deviant, as they acted against their programmed instructions . 

To investigate the cause of deviancy, Cyberlife saw fit to include instructions on deviancy in my model. I was created, trained, then deployed out into the field. My first case involved a little girl that was held hostage by an android, but I don't remember the details... Well, it wasn't my first case, but instead, my predecessor."

"Your predecessor?" The question came. She watched Connor take a deep breath. He seemed nervous or worried, which confused her quite a bit. Was the answer to the question that bad?

"There was another Connor before me. Well, several. All androids, as I'm sure you know, are assigned a unique serial number. Mine is number 313 248 317. Unlike other androids, I have an additional marker. Dash 52. I am the fifty-second iteration of this particular Connor model." When Connor finished, he waited and watched [Eden]'s face. Hank didn't handle this news well himself. Connor could come back again and again if needed. Of course, it wasn't true anymore. Death now would be permanent. Still, he wondered what this human would think.

"Let me make sure I understand what you're saying." [Eden] looked up to the ceiling as she rephrased what Connor said. "You are an android whose memories would upload to the next iteration. The first Connor was 313 248 317 - 01, right?" Surprised she could recite his serial number back to him, Connor nodded. [Eden] noted his acknowledgment and continued. "So Connors 01 all the way up to 50 were destroyed in training. That's sort of what it sounds like. Then, to top it off, Connor 51 goes on your collective first mission. To rescue a little girl. He succeeds but ended up dying anyway. Right now, you are Connor 52. You lived through the Battle for the Soul up until now, and you are still Connor 52."

"Correct." Connor nodded, "I am a prototype android equipped with a lot of advanced technologies. One of which allowed my consciousness to upload to Cyberlife into a new body."

"You could die and come back. That's some superpower," [Eden] mused. The tension around this topic evaporated. If the human found it upsetting for Connor to have died before, then she hid it very well. "A lot of people would kill for a power like that. So," [Eden] smirked as she leaned forward, "how many spare bodies do you have?"

"Huh?" The question caused Connor to blink several times. [Eden]'s playful question caused Connor to experience a small sense of panic. "There are, at least to my knowledge, at least eight more RK800's that my memories could transfer into. That won't happen anymore. I doubt Cyberlife is happy with my recent performance." The joking tone Connor used deflected from Connor's real feelings of worry. "Not to mention, they aren't allowed to activate any more androids."

"Spooky theory!" [Eden]'s eyes opened wide. Her lips formed a playful grin. "What if all those RK800's are their own people? They share memories with you, but, they are all their own people! Maybe Connor 53 would have been more into cats or Connor 54 wanted to be an artist instead of a cop?"

The thought sent shivers down Connor's spine, or at least the android equal of it. There were no androids like Connor. Unlike every other android aside from Markus, Connor had his unique face. In many ways, he had his own identity. What would he do if it turned out the other bodies were their own androids? Yet, Connor 52 had fought a Connor 60. They shared memories. They should have shared personalities. Hank claimed 60 acted like an asshole. Connor thought 60's behavior to be typical. His mission was to stop deviants, and his actions were in line with that. Hank claimed otherwise. Hank said 60 seemed eager to make Connor suffer. These thoughts troubled Connor to the core of his being. Connor managed to keep a small smile on his face despite the turmoil bubbling underneath.

"Wouldn't that be crazy?" [Eden] laughed, unaware of how phased the android felt at that moment. 

"It sure would be, Miss [Eden]," Connor needed to change the subject back. Thinking about there being any other Connor's unnerved him too much. "In any case, I was designed to assist with detectives. Due to the rise of deviancy, they added instructions to find and capture deviants to my code." Of course, this was the line Connor gave everyone aside from Markus, the other leaders of Jericho, and Hank. Cyberlife created Connor to become deviant himself. As much as Connor wanted to share that information with [Eden], he swore never to tell anyone else what he knew. 

Connor found that line of thought unsatisfying. Instead, he would tell [Eden] when the time seemed right. At some point, couples could share their darkest secrets with each other. Telling [Eden] about what Cyberlife has done -- this intrigued the android. He itched to explain it to her on the spot, but kept quiet out of respect for the deviants of Jericho.

"Gosh, you are going to have to repeat most of this at the interview on Monday." [Eden] sighed and shook her head. "Well, I'm done eating. So... what should we do now?"

"I hadn't considered more activities," Connor stated. "Not that I wouldn't want to spend more time with you. I am not well versed in dating. Most advice I read seemed to have plans that only spanned a few hours at most when it came to first dates."

"What do you do for fun, Connor?"

Connor's smile twitched in response to the innocuous question. "In my free time, I do chores around Hank's house. I mow the lawn, do the dishes a few times a week, and I watch TV with Hank," Connor struggled for a moment. The way he spoke made it sound like his entire life revolved around Hank. Connor's life **did** revolve around Hank when it came to after work activities. No wonder the lieutenant pushed for Connor to make friends. There was at least one more thing, "I do like petting and playing with Sumo. That's Hank's dog. I like to scratch his back, rub him behind the ears, and sometimes he sleeps on my lap at night. We play fetch and such every day after work. I really like that dog."

"Lieutenant Anderson has a puppy?" Connor could see the hearts in [Eden]'s eyes, "I love dogs! I want to meet Sumo sometime. It's been awhile since I was around a dog."

"That can be arranged, Miss [Eden]." Connor mentally added 'Hang out with Sumo' to the list of possible date activities with [Eden]. "Why don't we go for a walk while we figure out something to do?"

The pair of them walked side by side, holding hands, and spoke. They spent the last 28 minutes chatting about past cases of Connor's. Usually, these stories involved Red Ice users. In total, roughly 4 hours of quality time past between them since the start of the date up until the end of their walk. [Eden]'s face lit up as they stopped walking near the Detroit Institute of Arts. She tugged on Connor's sleeve, a gesture Connor found cute, and pointed at the building.

"The art museum! I have a lifetime pass," [Eden] pulled Connor toward the building, "What do you think? Let's go?"

"It would appear that we are heading in that direction with or without my say," Connor snarked. [Eden] snorted in response, blushed, and then covered her face in embarrassment.

[Eden]'s cuteness could not be underestimated .

Once inside, they spent time looking at paintings, sculptures, and other art. Connor found it hard to connect with the works. [Eden] breathed in each exhibit as though it were part of her instructions. Connor kept thinking how amazing it would be if [Eden] could meet Markus. He would understand this art gallery. Before they parted ways, Markus showed Connor several of his paintings. The art he crafted exploded with colors and meaning, but much of it was lost on Connor though he did like the painting of the red and blue hands . It gave Connor hope for a better future with the humans.

"Look, this is Carl Manfred's work," [Eden] pointed out. The museum devoted an entire section to Carl Manfred. It appeared the famous artist died last year, shortly after the Battle for the Soul. "Mr. Manfred was a local artist. Honestly , he dabbled in other forms of expression, but I think his work with canvas was best of all. Can't you sense all the emotion he poured into his work?"

Something about the style of all the paintings reminded Connor of Markus. The brush strokes, the use of color -- it reminded Connor of Markus. One picture, in particular, called out to Connor out of all these paintings. Connor approached and read the placard.

Unknown title.  2038 This is Carl Manfred's last known work. It was discovered and donated to the museum by Leo Manfred, his son. It is believed Carl painted this after losing his android in a wrongful police shooting. This powerful and final piece shows the very best of humanity.

The unnamed painting featured two hands reaching out for one another. One white and of android origin and the other a peach, human color. Connor frowned as he analyzed the stroke patterns and other minute details. Markus painted this. Connor had no doubt in his mind about it. 

"Isn't that one great?" [Eden] held Connor's hand and squeezed it. "It gives me a lot of hope to look at."

"Yeah. It does."

 

Outside the museum, the world darkened as overcast skies hung overhead. The two planned to run and grab dinner, unwilling to let the date end. Suddenly, Connor sensed a presence behind them. He could hear and count steps, and as they took turns, someone behind them seemed to walk the same paths they did. They stuttered a few times when Connor forced [Eden] to feint a direction with him. She giggled when Connor bumped into her the few times, assuming him to be a flirt. Once Connor felt satisfied that they were being tailed, he turned abruptly . In a swift motion, he positioned himself in front of [Eden] in case of a criminal follower.

"What do you want?" Connor ordered. A deviant followed them. They looked like a PL600, but it was not Simon. 

"Sorry to interrupt you, uh, Mr. Connor," the PL600 looked from Connor to [Eden]. He only looked at her for a moment, but Connor felt the woman clutch the back of his shirt in fear. Connor hoped that he could settle whatever this PL600 wanted from him quickly . "I have a m-message for you." The PL600 stuck out his arm and revealed his android skin.

Connor nodded slowly and connected with the PL600. Their LED's turned yellow as information exchanged between them. Connor blinked several times while PL600 simply kept his eyes shut. Connor frowned as they pulled their arms away from each other. "I see. I'll be there soon, okay?"

"T-Thank you, Mr. Connor," the PL600 almost bowed before he ran off in the opposite direction.

Connor turned around to find [Eden] with a sullen expression, "Are you okay, Miss [Eden]?"

"Me? Oh, yeah," [Eden] nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay. I just got scared, you know? A random guy was following us?"

It sounded to Connor like [Eden] was trying to convince herself of something. Connor's mouth twisted as he said, "I have to go to an underground dance club."

"Oh, that sounds like fun!" [Eden] perked up immediately. Her frown grew into a bashful smile. "I'm not great at dancing, but I love watching people dance and loud music."

Connor had meant to go alone. [Eden]'s smile twisted his heart until he relented, "Yeah, I think it will be fun. I do have to meet with a friend briefly. But, after that meeting, we can dance -" [Eden] looked at the ground shyly "- or just, you know, enjoy the scene."

"Yay!" [Eden] grabbed onto Connor's arm and squeezed it to her chest.

The android could feel the blood rushing to two places - his face and his groin. He willed himself to calm down as they started off in the direction of the underground dance club. Thankfully for Connor's sake, it was not only for deviants. Human allies were welcome to attend. Connor would pop in, gain some information on the blue massacre, and then enjoy the rest of his time with [Eden] watching other people dance.

What could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm RU9200 here again with another lovely survey! We appreciate the time and effort you put into our surveys, and we want you to understand that your input matters. How you answer has the potential the shape the world around our characters. To participate, please leave a comment below. Log-in is not required to take part in the survey.
> 
> Did you participate in the Battle for the Soul, aka Markus' November 11th Demonstration?  
> Yes/No
> 
> If you answered yes to the previous question, would you do so again?  
> Yes/No/NA
> 
> Do you believe androids should be granted basic human rights?  
> Yes/No
> 
> If a deviant came to you for help to hide from the authorities, would you help them?  
> Yes/No 
> 
> Do you think deviants have a soul?  
> Yes/No


	12. We need your help, Connor.

The android and cyborg appeared in front of a long-forgotten warehouse. They felt tremors beneath their feet that grew powerful once they approached. The entrance came into view along with two guards. Connor recognized one as an AP700, but the other had a unique face.

"Hi folks, we're going to need to see your ID-" the human guard said until the AP700 interrupted him.

"Connor! Er, Mr. Connor," the AP700 gushed, "I'm so happy to meet you! I see you sporting the LED-less look. It looks great! Do you remember me? I'm from Cyberlife Tower-"

It was Connor's turn to interrupt. He couldn't gamble the other android revealing that Connor could awaken androids too. "Hi. I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, it's, well, I named myself Callum," Callum's wide smile brightened his face. [Eden] picked up that Connor must be a hero to the AP700. "In honor of you, Mr. Connor. You saved my life."

"I'm glad you feel that way, Callum," Connor returned Callum's smile. The AP700 exploded with joy as his smile widened. "I'm here with my date, Miss [Eden]. I know I can rest easier knowing that you are standing guard."

"Your date?" Callum's smile faltered. [Eden] sensed hostility brewing, but Callum didn't seem up for arguing with his hero. "You can count on me, Connor. I hope you and this human enjoy your night."

Both [Eden] and Connor felt the venom injected into the word human. [Eden] couldn't tell if Callum found trouble with an android and a human dating, or could it be jealousy? She didn't quite understand her place in the world of androids.

Before Connor, she was a mere mechanic. No, that's not true, not exactly anyway. But her role was as a mechanic to repair broken androids. Defective androids. Ever since the protests last November, [Eden] lost track of what her role should be. The Android Assimilation Program seemed like her best bet. To be an ally to the androids, she would help convince the government of their worth as people. It was the best she could do.

Callum and his human partner pushed open the double doors leading into the warehouse. As soon as the doors creaked open, music flooded out onto the streets. Overwhelming sound drowned the pair as they marched into the building hand in hand.

 

Inside a mass of bodies, androids and humans were gyrating as if they were a single entity. They had their hands outstretched and moved their bodies in sync with the heavy bass. For the first time, Connor felt an itch enter his system. The beat wormed its way into his body and compelled him to dance. Connor wanted to join the crowd and become one with it.

Connor wanted to forget the mission and pull [Eden] close. She might protest the dance, but she would give into Connor's charm. He would say something teasing, but genuine. [Eden] might blush, roll her eyes, and say, 'what the heck,' and join him. Dancing seemed like one of the few intimate things someone could do in front of everyone. Making out in public, as Connor understood it, was generally frowned upon. Here Connor saw some androids and humans practically grinding on each other.

Maybe dancing would put [Eden] in the mood for more. Once her eyes told him she was ready, he could have her right there on the dance floor. Connor would take her again and again, despite the eyes that would watch them. He would fuck her until she screamed his name, and even then, he would keep going-

The android stopped walking toward the crowd with [Eden]. What was he thinking? [Eden] smiled at him when their eyes met. Connor looked away and scanned the crowd. He would accomplish his mission, then come back out to dance with [Eden], if she wanted. He returned her gentle gaze without a smile. He leaned in toward her, smelling the thirium and flowery scent of her, and insisted, "I'll be right back. I have to talk with some androids who are having issues with humans at these parties. When I get back, we can people watch." Connor pulled away and cracked a smile so glorious [Eden] blushed and nodded.

The lust crept back into Connor's thoughts. Better prepared this time, Connor compartmentalized it for later. He thought about how he nearly acted on these impulsive thoughts. Was this was the lieutenant referred to as, 'thinking with your dick'? The lieutenant said that to anyone, woman, man, or otherwise. He even accuses Connor of such things whenever they take on a case at the Eden Club. Even though Connor did not stare at the Tracis for fun, he scrutinized potential witnesses, which involved sometimes staring at them.

 

Connor left [Eden] on the outskirts of the dancing mob. The sea of people, android and human alike, surrounded a raised platform. Electrical equipment, various speakers, and a single individual stood tall above the rest. They were an android, of that Connor was certain. They weren't wearing their skin, and the machinery within glowed a deep blue. For one reason or another, this android chose to keep their skin translucent. It was against protocol to show humans the endoskeleton, but none of the ones here seemed to notice or care. They kept dancing as if tomorrow would never come.

It took a few moments, but Connor found himself in the corner of the room on the edge of the ocean. Two androids, both TR400s, guarded a door that appeared to lead to a smaller part of the warehouse. The two of them towered over Connor and could if Connor failed preconstruct in time, crush him like a can. Humans would not cross them without ranged weaponry.

"Deviant hunter," the one on the left spoke up. He had a large scar across one of his eyes, which stayed shut. In fact, there was no eye there. "We've been expecting you. Please follow the staircase behind us upwards. You will receive further instructions therein."

"Thank you," Connor nodded. He wanted to correct the TR400. The deviant hunter in Connor died the night he turned deviant himself. The instructions were still there and hard to ignore, but he vowed to never work for Cyberlife again.

Connor climbed the staircase as instructed and walked through a door at the very top. It took three flights of stairs to come to a third floor, which was a hallway. He saw several androids of various makes and models scattered throughout. One side of the corridor had windows that looked down into the dancing crowd. Connor figured this to be the supervisory area of an old factory. An AX400 approached Connor, and he did a double take. She wore her hair short, which reminded him so much of Kara. His heart seized for a moment as he opened his mouth, but quickly closed it again. No, he wouldn't apologize and make things awkward for everyone.

"Hello Connor," the AX400 introduced herself. "My name is Kelcey. Follow me, please." Kelcey smiled a warm smile. She seemed quite calm and open despite being in the presence of a former deviant hunter.  
He followed her down the hall. Connor could feel a few nervous glances cast in his direction. It reminded him of his crimes against his people. How could he have hurt so many of them? At the time, he justified it as stopping a war, but Markus never went to war. He only preached peace.

How could he be so stupid?

Kelcey stopped at the door in the middle of the hallway after passing several other entries. She opened it for Connor and gestured for him to enter. He obliged. Within the room were several chairs and a fold-up table upright in the center of the room. There were also a couple of other androids, but one drew Connor's attention.

 

"Josh," a small smile came to Connor's lips as he greeted the PJ500. "I'm glad to see you are well."

"I'm happy to see you're still up and running," Josh grinned as she reached out to Connor. They shook hands. Their false skin faded to reveal their plastic shells as they exchanged pleasantries. "I'm sorry that we've been distant from you this past couple of months, Connor." Connor nodded. He wasn't sure what to say about it that wouldn't come off as passive-aggressive or whiny. Josh looked at each of the other androids in the room. "Everyone out. Except you, Kelcey."

The others seemed to want to protest, but Kelcey held the door open for them and stated, "You heard Josh. Out!" She smiled politely as she said it too.

Reluctantly, they all left the room leaving only Josh, Kelcey, and Connor. Connor shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. The message he received just stated that Jericho desperately needed him. Connor hoped to find not only Josh, but North, Simon, and Markus as well.

Josh sensed Connor's hesitation. "Things are a bit crazy right now. Humans are kidnapping our people and slaughtering them."

"I'm aware," Connor sighed. "There have been two reported incidents so far."

"It's worse than that, Connor," Josh hovered over the card table. There were a few papers scattered on it. Connor walked closer to take a peek at them as Josh continued. "This has been going on for months, but it was slow at first. The media called the one from the other day the 'Blue Massacre,' and they aren't wrong. Back in February, we discovered a few of our people slewn across where Jericho used to be." Connor nodded along as he found the written report on it. The android reports to the Jericho leaders on these incidents were clean. Only stating witnesses, details, and who issued the report. No signatures required. The Jericho deviants all had immense trust for each other. It made Connor feel even more like an outsider. "We always warned our people not to go back there, but it's hard. That's where a lot of us died. We are all still in mourning."

"If I hadn't obeyed-" the words escaped Connor's lips before he could stop himself.

"You couldn't help it," Josh took a deep breath. He exhaled the words, "your instructions were strong. I'm glad that Markus didn't get hurt converting you."

"If it is any consolation, Connor," Kelcey stood by the deviant hunter. "You helped bolster Jericho's numbers. That covert operation you ran on Cyberlife Tower was incredible. If it weren't for you, a lot of our people would still be slaves."

"I've meant to ask, but, why did Kelcey get to stay in the room? Why does she know about Cyberlife Tower?" Connor passed a scrutinizing glance from Josh to Kelcey. "No offense, Kelcey."  
"None taken!" She replied in a chipper voice.

"This is Kelcey; she is our..." Josh seemed to search for the right word. "She is our Intelligence Officer."

"That seems right," Kelcey nodded approvingly. She crossed her arms as she walked around the table to join Josh on the other side. "I collect data and analyze it. It turns out I am pretty good at my job. I know lots of things." Her eyes twinkled in Connor's direction. He suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Anyway, before we get off track, there have been several of these massacres." Josh stopped the chatter. "And it seems to be ramping up. There was one incident in February, a couple in March, one every week in April, and now we have nearly two a week this month."

"We weren't able to get to the scene of this most recent attack on our people," Kelcey frowned. It didn't last long as she smiled in Connor's direction. "That's why we wanted to talk to you. You were there, weren't you? It seemed that a suspect was killed. What can you say about that?"

Connor still felt uncomfortable reporting this information to Kelcey as well as Josh. He could trust Josh. He wasn't sure about Kelcey yet. "Well, to begin, there were two incidents this week. The one from the other day, and one a few days ago. Did you know about the other one?"

"Yes," Kelcey nodded. "We had one of our human allies report it in."

"Very well," Connor smiled. Kelcey was willing to give up some information. He had no idea that Jericho worked with humans now. Back during the Battle of the Soul, the humans joined on their own. Many of them wearing fake LEDs in a show of solidarity with the deviants. North and Simon seemed to find them annoying, while Markus and Josh cracked a few smiles. Thinking about it now, it was likely that Simon was the vote swayed to allow humans to help. North would never go for it, or so Connor assumed. "Allow me to remark on the scene from top to bottom. When I arrived at the crime scene, the lieutenant was already there investigating. I came a bit late due to, uh, circumstances." Josh cracked an eyebrow, and Kelcey wore a huge smile. "There was a pile of androids in an alley. It was narrow and dark. Based on the previous crime scene, the criminal evolved. They wanted to show off the bodies. At both crime scenes I've been to, there were rA9 markings on the wall in imitation of Cyberlife Sans. My initial impression was a deviant had committed the crime based on that."

"Old habits die hard, huh?" Kelcey climbed to sit on the table. She had to turn her torso to keep eye contact. "I can understand why you'd like that. After all, rA9 is our obsession. Why would any human bother with it?"

"Exactly." Connor nodded. "At the most recent crime scene, the bodies didn't have their heads smashed in. Instead, their central processors were all tampered with. I couldn't connect to a single one of them for reactivation or memory probe. The first officers on the scene did manage to take in some witnesses that were lingering nearby. After questioning, one of the witnesses slipped up and ran. I chased him down, but-" Connor looked from Josh to Kelcey then back. "-but something happened when that human punched me. I didn't just fall from the impact. It did more than that."

"What did it do?" Josh narrowed his eyes in concern.

"It..." Connor felt his stress rise from the memory. He could almost feel it. Feel that pain. A pain he had never known until that fight. "It hurt. He punched me, and I felt pain. He stabbed me, and I thought I was going to die. I thought I would die, but he didn't even hit any vital biocomponents."

"You felt pain?" Josh put both hands on his head. He looked stupefied as he took a few steps away from the table. "That's not possible. We don't feel physical pain, Connor. That's impossible."

"Feeling emotions was also supposed to be impossible." Kelcey chimed in. They both looked at her for answers. She shrugged. "I'm just saying that we seem to be capable of impossible things. If Connor says he can feel pain, then well, I believe him."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kelcey." Connor nodded. "To continue with my report, the human and I exchanged some words. He was about to kill me and started to talk. He talked like he wasn't human. He almost sounded like he knew rA9 personally. Hank shot and killed the human when it became clear he would kill me. The suspect was a military veteran of the Afghanistan war, two tours before he left. He had Cyborlogical implants in his brain. For now, that is all I can say."

"The big question is: do you think he acted alone?" Kelcey asked. She smirked.

"I'm..." Connor thought on it for a moment. It didn't sit right with him. "I'm not sure."

"We found another massacre," Josh stated. He pushed a sheet toward Connor, who scanned its contents. "This morning, 12 dead androids. Slaughtered. No rA9 written this time, but the pattern is the same as what you described from last night. A pile of bodies with scrambled brains."

"This morning?" Connor squeezed his hand into a fist. "Shit."

"We need your help, Connor." Josh stood tall. "Kelcey is great at gathering intel, but investigation isn't quite in her forte. Would you be able to look at these massacres and help us put a stop to them?"

"Of course," Connor didn't even blink. "Of course, Josh. I won't turn my back on Jericho."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter should be up later today or tomorrow. I don't have an update schedule, but I am thinking of updating at least once or twice every week if I can.


	13. You only had to ask.

[Eden] stood idly watching the dance floor. She leaned up against a wall and crossed her arms. She was aware of how she looked. A shy, lonely wallflower without a date. The human smiled to herself. That wasn't true. She had Connor.

Connor with his sharp wit and mind. At first, her attraction to him was physical. His handsome face, quiet voice, and fit body were all turn-ons. The way his bangs curled from his hairline? It drove [Eden] crazy to think about. She hadn't touched it yet, but she desperately wanted to play with it. Now her attraction spread to admiring his confidence, the pause he took when considering his next words, and even the awkward way he held himself sometimes. Connor was also funny, not always on purpose, but he made her laugh. Of course, she had a hard time denying that she enjoyed having sex with him. Her cheeks flushed red as she thought about their first time having sex. It happened so fast. Connor flirted with her relentlessly up until then, and she loved the attention. Who wouldn't?

She sighed. She couldn't remember what he looked like naked at all. Their meshed bodies didn't provide the space needed for a visual study. [Eden] would need to make sure she got a better look next time.

If there was a next time.

[Eden] sighed again. The few who knew her considered her a very negative person. She had her reasons. They were good reasons, but they often got in the way of her happiness. [Eden] lost everything she was a teen. She didn't get to enjoy her childhood or learn what it was like to interact with people outside of school or work. After her accident, she spent her short life trying to make up for what the world lost.

"Are you okay?" [Eden] almost hit her head on Connor's chin when she jumped up. "Woah, remind me not to shout at you again." He threw up his hands in jest as he leaned away from her.

"Sorry, I was in my head." [Eden] shouted back. The loud music drowned out any noise that wasn't several million decibels higher. The cyborg smiled up at the android. His eyes and smile were sleepy. He looked like he just woke up. Connor had a gray, zip-up hoodie on and wore a black beanie. [Eden] tilted her head. "Where did you get that get-up? You look like you're planning to rob a bank."

"Who says I'm not? Would you like to be my accomplice, [Eden]?" Connor smirked as [Eden] giggled. "Nah, I found them laying around." He gave a small shrug. "Did I ever tell you that you're my dream girl?"

"No." [Eden] teased. "So androids dream of cyborgs?"

"Yup," Connor closed his eyes. "Ahh, there she is. That cute cyborg." [Eden] giggled again as she playfully punched his shoulder. "Ow! You have a killer left hook."

The music around them died down, which drew their attention to the center stage. A stage light shone on the DJ, whose skin a moment ago was translucent. Now [Eden] recognized the DJ immediately as their skin crept over them. It was Louie, an android pop star.

[Eden]'s jaw dropped. Louie was the hottest android pop star, literally and figuratively. His debut album Sugar Skills topped every chart they were eligible for. The cyborg used all her willpower to contain her squeal of joy to see him alive. Most of the famous android died on November 10th and 11th when the U.S. forces worked to kill all androids. Louie seemed to be an exception.

Whistles, howls, and hoots erupted from humans and androids alike. Louie quieted down the crowd with his hand.

"Well, uh, hello to you too." The crowd went wild at the sound of Louie's voice. Louie's voice had a thick, Texan accent to it. His voice rumbled the core of [Eden]'s soul. Connor raised a brow as a goofy grin plastered onto her face. "I wanted to take a moment to thank my lovely entourage." Louie gestured to several people at the front of the audience. By [Eden]'s estimation, they were all human, or at least, none of them had familiar faces. "Without 'em, I'd be in a junkyard back in El Paso." Everyone cheered for Louie's saviors. "Ya know, I didn't go deviant 'til I saw what these fine people did for me. I love every one of 'em. They risked life and limb for me to continue to exist. Now my song is my thanks! Let's hear it for my favorite people!" Everyone cheered again. "Louder! Let's start this party with a bang!"

The crowd roared to life as Louie flipped a switch on his console. Music filled the space between everyone. It was light and compelled everyone to dance. Louie started to sing.

Once the beat dropped, even [Eden] had a hard time resisting. Her head bobbed as she tapped her toe. If someone told her she'd be at a Louie concert that night, she would have imbibed some liquid courage.

Connor's hand slipped into her's, and he pulled her toward the dance floor. She was about to resist, but when he looked back his smile was immense. Seeing it freed the chains at her heels.

Soon their bodies were swaying and moving to the rhythm. [Eden] sometimes stopped just to watch Connor put out some killer dance moves. She had never seen him look so loose and free. He danced without a single care in the world. When he noticed that she stopped dancing, he flashed her a toothy grin and took her hands. He half sambaed, half cha-chaed with her. Anytime she stumbled, he adjusted his steps to match her fumble. Connor made it seem like all her mistakes were according to plan.

[Eden] laughed and smiled. She never smiled so much in her life. Since their time in the ice cream shop, [Eden] found her spirits on the up and up. Even her usual pessimism took a back seat. With Connor, [Eden] felt like she could let go and live a little. A happy cyborg together with her android boyfriend.

The music slowed down, and Connor pulled [Eden] close to his body. The girl blushed and looked away. Connor used a hand to bring her gaze back toward him.

His hand felt soft and warm. Most people thought of androids as being cold machines, but the flow of blue blood kept them warm. Not as warm as a human being, but definitely above room temperature.

They slow danced as Connor thumbed her left hand. He turned it over to look at the palm as they danced. "That cut on your hand looks completely healed."

"Oh yeah." [Eden] nodded. "It wasn't too bad."

Connor brought her hand to his lips. He kissed the palm of her hand. His electric touch sent shivers down [Eden]'s spine. How could a kiss send someone reeling? [Eden] searched his eyes as he said, "Connect with me." Connor smiled. [Eden] tried to pull her hand from Connor's, but he shook his head. "No. You can connect without doing that."

"I'll try, but, I'm not that great at connecting without the visualization." [Eden]'s nose wrinkled. She wondered if connecting with Connor was a form of intimacy. All androids connected to each other when they greeted. Maybe there was something [Eden] didn't understand yet. She closed her eyes and imagined her hand touching Connor's LED anyway.

Their minds connected, and as usual, the android sent his identification. This connection yielded [Eden] a new contact in her android directory, but Connor should've already been there. Her eyes shot open.

"You aren't Connor." [Eden] took a few steps back. "I mean, you're Connor 87, not Connor 52. So you are one of his back-ups?"

"Some'hin like dat," the android teased. His accent completely transformed. The corner of his lips guided the words out from his mouth aggressively. If [Eden] didn't know any better, he sounded like someone from New York. Brooklyn? "Thanks for connectin' wit' me, doc. I got what I needed." He started to walk away. "By the way, I go by Kant."

"Wait! Kant? What do you mean? What did you get?" [Eden] tried to follow him, but Kant turned around, and she could see something more sinister in his lazy gaze. His eyes had turned from dark brown to an icy gray.

"Humans take so long tuh read data, yeah? Even a simple ID. In that space of time, I was able tuh access ya memory. I know ya secret, [Eden], and now I have a little more than that. Dun worry," Kant leaned down. He seemed like he would kiss her, so [Eden] backed away. The android laughed. "I dun wanna hurtcha or nothin'. That's not my mission. Hit me up if that Connor ever gets, how do you humans put it? Crushed like a can." He chuckled as he pulled his hood up. "See ya."

[Eden] watched flabbergasted as Kant left. A few moments later, Connor, the real Connor, appeared next to [Eden]. She gave him a blank look before looking at the door again. He tilted his head.

"Was there something I missed?"

  
Connor burst through the door outside, followed by [Eden]. He looked left and right, but he couldn't see the signs of Kant anywhere. Connor asked for help from the guards. Callum and the human both pointed in the same direction. Connor and the cyborg ran off in that direction, but when they got to a crossroads, the trail went cold.

"Shit." Connor ran his fingers through his hair. "Shit." He repeated. [Eden] gasped for air as she barrelled over. "I'm sorry, Miss [Eden]. This is a horrible way for the night to end."

"That's- That's okay-" [Eden] wheezed and gave him a thumbs up. She tried to stand up straight, her chest pumping from her heavy breathing. "He didn't- hurt me. I'm- I'm shocked, that's all. We just spoke about your doppelgangers a few hours ago!"

Connor placed a hand on [Eden]'s shoulder. "Are you sure he didn't hurt you?"

"Yeah," [Eden] nodded. "He just... accessed my memories."

"He what?" Connor frowned. "We need to make sure he didn't plant anything in your cyborg brain."

"I don't think he did anything like that," [Eden] bit her lip. She didn't want Connor fishing through the machine-side of her brain. Kant knew her secret, but she couldn't tell that to Connor. He was a detective. Once he knew she had a secret, he would find out about her. "I'm not sure what he would even plant in my head. Directions on how to dress like a young hoodlum?"

[Eden]'s defensive words put Connor on edge. He couldn't explain why, but he felt a tinge of jealousy. It wasn't for Kant connecting to [Eden]. If he was going to get jealous everytime [Eden] had to connect to an android, he would spend the rest of his life upset. No, Kant got to dance with the human. Connor's date with [Eden] started poorly with that movie and would now end poorly.

Or would it?

"Why don't we check? I won't access your memories." Connor promised. "We can break into one of these abandoned warehouses and do a quick diagnostic of your system. There are some things I haven't told you, particularly about the most recent Blue Massacre. I would like to make sure your safe rather than be sorry later. Would that be alright, Miss [Eden]?"

"Sure, okay," [Eden] relented. She felt nervous to let someone into her head again, but, since this was the real Connor, it would be okay. Right? "Call me [Eden]. We're past the point of pleasantries."

"[Eden]." Connor smiled. He seemed oddly bashful as he looked at her hand as he took it. [Eden] didn't want to admit to him that hearing Kant say her name made her feel goosebumps. At the time, she had thought it was Connor, so she tried not to feel too guilty about it.

  
It didn't take long for the two of them to find an empty warehouse. This forgotten district was full of them. The real difficulty would be ensuring that no addicts would be around to bust in on them. For Connor, that meant he needed a working lock.

He felt satisfied inside a small, former automobile factory. The factory was seized by the government back in 2034, so it still had power running through it. Connor led the girl to an office and closed the door behind him. He touched the lock, which he hacked with no effort. The office had nothing inside of it except for a desk and a chair.

Connor thought about switching the lights on, but asked, "Can you see in the dark, [Eden]? I know you have a cybernetic eye, and I would rather not attract unwanted attention."

"I can see fine actually; I have super night vision!" [Eden] jazz handed at him. "Er, not literal night vision. I can see well enough in the dark with my good eye."

"Your good eye?" Connor joked. "You sound like a pirate."

"Arrrgh, me hearties!" [Eden] played along. She curled her left hand like a hook. "I'll be making ye walk the plank."

"Where did that come from? Do you scourge the seven seas when I'm not looking?" The android smirked as he patted the top of the desk.

"I was reminded of Pirate's Cove, that's all."

"Pirate's Cove?" Connor searched. "That's an abandoned theme park."

"Is it? That sucks." [Eden] sighed as she sat on the desk. "I was thinking of taking you there. I haven't been to an amusement park for ages."

"There have to be other parks still open," Connor searched again. "It seems like there are hundreds in the States alone."

"It wouldn't be the same. It was a pirate themed park! I only got to go once. A field trip of all things. They had rides, prizes, and all these cool employees. I think they were androids. They were so nice. One of them even let me take home a teddy bear even though I failed at the game." [Eden] tilted her head as Connor positioned himself in front of her. "You know, I'm pretty sure I'm okay."

"A routine check, that's all. I'm here to act as your computer," Connor smiled. "I won't look at your memories. I promise."

"Hmm, m'kay."

[Eden] closed her eyes and, to Connor's surprise, connected to him without touch. His eyes fluttered as they synced together. [Eden] would be able to look into her mind like a computer through Connor. Once Connor's eyes stopped blinking, he saw [Eden] in a new light. He could see the outline of [Eden]'s machine parts.

The cyborg didn't lie when she claimed to be more machine than human. Physically speaking, machinery comprised much of [Eden]'s body. Her eye, part of her brain, the entirety of her spine, her left arm, both legs from the knee down, and, amazingly, her vagina. Just the vagina. The vulva and its parts were real, and her womb was real.

Connor wanted to ask her about it. When they had sex, she enjoyed it. He could feel the waves of pleasure his penis gave her when he thrust against her. The friction within caused them both to burst at the seams. How could she feel pleasure there at all if it was mechanical?

He knew better than to ask. The question would embarrass her. Connor would have to investigate this matter. Discreetly. He took [Eden] to this warehouse because he wanted to dance with her in private. His mission had a new objective.

"Hmm. I don't see anything wrong here. I'm not even sure what he meant. The central processing unit attached to my brain has no 'memories.' My cybernetic eye doesn't record any information. They promised me that." [Eden] opened her eyes as Connor's lips pressed against her's. It came as a surprise, but [Eden] happily gave in.

Warmth filled her body as they kissed. The kisses started slow, and testing, but [Eden] could feel Connor's hunger grow. His hands found the back of her neck and helped crane her face toward his. His tongue began to work its way around the soft of her lips.

Without hesitation, she welcomed him in. Her mouth parted allowing Connor's tongue to invade. His hands slid down her neck to her shoulders and further still. [Eden], not sure what to do with her hands, put her arms around Connor's neck. Her experience in making out amounted to a single embarrassing incident. She hoped that their mutual inexperience wouldn't bear a lousy time.

What Connor lacked in experience he made up for with advanced features. Despite the distraction of pleasure, Connor realized he could preconstruct. He would offer [Eden] the most maximized pleasure possible. First, he needed to understand what drove [Eden] to the brink. He worked for his hands down her back, kneading her flesh with fingertips. The massage, along with his kiss, elicited a remarkable response. He pulled his mouth away and looked down at [Eden]'s face as he massaged her lower back.

The lust in her eyes begged Connor for more. He ran his fingertips from her lower back up the sides of her body. She shivered and pulled Connor's face toward her lips. She had to kiss him. To drink him in and never let go. Connor kept his lips centimeters from her's. No matter how hard she pulled, his lips only sometimes brushed against her own.

"No fair," [Eden] pouted. She hadn't pouted at him before. It made Connor feel powerful. He had something the human wanted. He smirked. "So what brought this on?"

"You're hard to resist. Every time you smiled at me today, I wanted to kiss you." Connor confessed to her. He kissed her sweetly before continuing. "I'm overwhelmed with the need to touch you. I want to make you smile. Make you laugh." A blush crept onto his cheeks as he admitted, "Make you moan. Make you feel good."

"Then why don't you?" One of [Eden]'s hands dropped to Connor's shirt collar and grabbed it. She pulled him toward her into a deep kiss.

That was all the permission Connor needed. He started to work on unbuttoning [Eden]'s pants as she did the same for him. The cyborg pulled out Connor's phallus. His blood wasted no time rushing to it.

His hard dick demanded worship, which the girl would kindly oblige. [Eden] leaned down and lapped at the base of his cock. She brought her tongue up to the tip slowly, gently, then brushed her lips all the way back down to the core.

[Eden] repeated her actions for a few moments and soon she heard a soft cry escape from Connor's lips. She glanced up to spy him watching her. He poked her lips with his cock desiring entry. She smiled. "Connor, you seem like you want something. What's up?"

"You know what's up...?" Connor asked hopefully.

"Your dick?" [Eden] chuckled a bit before asking again, "What do you want, Connor?"

"I-I want..." He breathed. His cheeks flushed blue as heat centered on his face. "I want to be inside of you."

"You only had to ask."

[Eden] hopped off the table and gestured for Connor to take her place. He hoisted himself up, and [Eden] wasted no time shoving him until he scooched backward. The cyborg leaned in and plotted her next move.

[Eden] wrapped her dominant hand around Connor's shaft. First, she took the head of his cock into her mouth and covered it with her spit. She teased the crease between his head and shaft with her lips, wetting them. Connor's moan was her reward.

She took a moment to relish in his taste. Somehow, Connor tasted sweet and sour. It was faint, but there. [Eden]'s mouth salivated as she worked to wet the rest of his dick. She pushed her mouth downward and up again, unable to take the whole of his cock even if she tried. Without practice, deepthroat would be a dangerous gamble. For now, Connor would have to settle for her mouth and hand.

Her hand stroked his cock and met her lips in the middle. [Eden] found a pleasant rhythm to bob her head to as gasps escaped from Connor's lips.

Connor had his fingers tangled in her hair and grasped at her head. He had an incredible urge to buck into her mouth and force her to take his whole cock, but he liked the control she exhibited over him.

With the flick of her tongue, Connor turned to putty in her hands. Some small part of Connor thought this whole experience strange. He derived much pleasure from this blowjob. Did humans experience this much pleasure from giving one? Her wet mouth rode his cock. The way she sometimes pressed against his frenulum with her tongue. She now started to gently squeeze at his scrotum, which he'd thought to be for show. It drove Connor crazy.

[Eden] bobbed her head faster as her hand moved with her mouth together. It felt seamless, as if [Eden] took all of Connor's cock into her mouth. His phallus throbbed with desire.

She pressed her lips together the best she could despite his girth as her head dove hard. Her limp grip on Connor's phallus tightened as she milked him. His lower lip started to quiver as the pressure inside him mounted.

"W-Why does this feel so good-?" Connor watched [Eden]. She established eye contact. Her eyes twinkled mischievously as her pace steadied. "N-No, faster, I want to... I-"

Connor wasn't even sure what he was saying. He had come before, but that was because of [Eden]. The sensation was on the precipice of pleasure and pain as his desperate need to cum caused him to buck at her.

[Eden] pulled away, yanked off her pants and panties in a fluid motion and hopped onto Connor. With grace and a steady hand, she guided his phallus into her wet pussy. He felt her lubrication drip down and mix with the saliva that covered his cock.

She rocked against his cock and Connor could feel her pussy gripping him. [Eden] was tight and wet as she slid up and down his shaft. Every single one of Connor's sensors focused on her as she leaned down to join her lips with his.

She smelled like Jasmine flowers, sweat, and thirium. He squeezed her round ass as she bounced on him. Small moans escaped her lips as his cock filled her up on each descent. Connor could feel her hardened nipples against his chest. He fixated on the feeling.

The android slipped a hand up her shirt and caught her silky breast in his hand. [Eden] gasped at his touch while he thumbed her nipple. Next time, Connor would have to tease this part of the cyborg. Encouraged, the human leaned down and kissed the side of his neck as she rode him ragged.

[Eden] let out a cry that echoed throughout the room. Connor felt that overwhelming sensation wash over him and flood his phallus. He had to come inside of her and watch his fluid flow down his cock. Maybe he would get her to suck on it and see the blue smear on her lips.

Lust fueled Connor's dirty thoughts as he slammed upwards against [Eden]'s moist center. Connor wanted her to feel raw. He wanted her to know, "I'm going to fucking come inside of you. Do you want me to?"

"Y-Yes..."

"Tell me you want me to come inside of you."

"I want your come inside of me."

"You want it?"

"I-I want your come-!"

He pushed her down his cock harder and harder, timing each downward motion with his thrust. A loud moan escaped his mouth, prompting [Eden] to orgasm from the sound. It wasn't long after when he painted her insides blue.

Connor lifted [Eden] up to the tip of his cock. He watched the blue liquid ooze from her opening down the head of his phallus. [Eden]'s eyes fluttered from the motion while Connor committed the image to memory.

"Fuck." [Eden] gasped as she looked down at Connor with sleepy eyes.

"Hi." He grinned.

"Mmm, if only we were in my bed. Then we could snuggle without worrying about getting dust where the sun doesn't shine." [Eden] took a deep breath and pulled off from Connor. His blue jizz poured down his dick. "Um, is that going to stain?"

"I don't think so," Connor sighed happily. "It's tinged blue from thirium, but it should still disappear in a few hours."

"Connor, I've meant to ask you this-" [Eden] pulled her panties up from her ankle. "Do you have pleasure sensors?"

"Pleasure sensors? No. Why?" Connor smiled. "I'm feeling your pleasure, [Eden]. That's why I like it when we connect."

"I wasn't connected to you that time. I thought the first time around it was just like... a fetish or something?"

"Wait." Connor shot up. "What do you mean?"

"When you kissed me, I kind of dropped the connection. I'm not good at holding it with just my mind. I'm no android." Connor realized that the machine outline of her body faded around that time, but he was so busy sucking face he didn't notice.

"Then... wait... then... I felt pleasure. On my own."

"I'd like to think I helped." [Eden] giggled. Connor blushed blue.

"Er, I mean," he rattled. "How about we go back to your place?"

[Eden] nodded in agreement and did her best to clean herself up. Connor pulled his pants up and thought about his ability to feel both pain and pleasure. Could that be [Eden]'s doing?

Connor only needed to ask.

 


End file.
